Why So Serious?
by Lacey Grimstone
Summary: A young girl witnesses the incident of when Jack, a.k.a. the joker, got his scars. Eventual hints of Joker/OC
1. Chapter 1

**I decided to rewrite this story. It wont be too different but I realize that the chapters could use more detail so..anyway I hoe you enjoy! :)**

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><p>I had just turned 10 when we first moved into our new house. I was the same age as the neighbor's son, Jack. I first met him at school; he was very different from the other kids at school, though in a good way. Unfortunately nobody else, other kids or teachers, saw him the way I did. That was the reason I was the only one he would ever speak to.<p>

You could say we grew up together; with him living right next door, I would see him on a regular basis. After a while I had started to notice a change in him. Something different. This time it wasn't a good different.

I could see bruises that looked as if they were covered with some sort of powder, like makeup, that were scattered all over the length of his arms. Sometimes even accompanied by a black eye. It took me a few days before I could muster u the courage to ask him what had happened. Though he said nothing in return. That was when I knew something was really wrong.

I even tried to tell my parents about it, they usually only responded by telling me to 'stop snooping on the neighbors' or 'to just stay out of other peoples business'. The following week of school Jack was nowhere to be seen. Everyday I had gotten off the bus after school I would stop and stare at his house hoping for any sign of him. There never was one. This was when I began to really worry. Only being the age I was I knew I couldn't do anything about it myself. What I did know was that I could still try to find out what was really going on over my neighbors house.

That Friday night I decided to go against my parents' word and sneak over to the neighbors' house. Slowly I made my way across their overgrown grassy lawn and towards a window, that if it was anything like my own house would show the kitchen. I stood on my tip toes and peered in and like I had thought, it leads to the kitchen. I waited for several minutes checking every once in a while to see if anyone had shown up.

I swear I had been out there for over forty five minutes, that's when I stared to believe that maybe my parents were right. Maybe I was just being silly about this entire thing. I was about to head home when I finally heard some talking from inside.

Before anyone could see the top of my head I ducked down into the bushes and listened in. It wasn't talking. No, no…this was yelling.

It was a woman that I could hear screaming. The words I managed to understand were, "NO! NO PLEASE DON'T!" My eyes widen with fear.

"What's going on?" I heard another voice ask, this one I could tell was Jack's. His voice seemed calm but at the same time a bit shaky.

"Jack, j-just stay out of this!" The woman cried. Another person spoke now; this was very clearly a man. His voice was deep and raspy. Almost as if he had been yelled for a long period of time.

"No Jack…how about you stay." The man said. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up; just the sound of this mans voice was enough to put fear in you. It sounded as if it came from straight out of a horror flick.

Now I decided to peek inside to see what was really going on, see who these people were. The silhouette of the man approached Jack, who was cornered now.

I could see the fear building up in Jack's eyes as the man, who I know recognized to be his father got closer. I could see one of the mans hands reach out to one of the counters and grabbed something. A knife.

"Why so serious?" The man said with a fake worried tone to it. He grabbed Jack's neck and pressed him harder against the wall. "I said…why so serious?" His voice got louder and angrier with each word he spit.

I could see Jacks lips move, he was saying something but it was too quiet to hear. To me I swear he mouthed the word 'please'.

"STOP THIS! YOU'RE DRUNK!" The woman said finally reacting to the situation. Apparently she had been too infixed with this as I was. She attempted to grab Jack out of this mans grasp but utterly failed as he swung an elbow right into her jaw causing her to tumble backwards.

"MOM!" Jack yelled trying now to help his mother.

"Let's put a smile on that face!" The man said in a sadistic voice. I saw the hand that was clamped onto a knife raise and slowly make its way to the corner of Jacks mouth.

I couldn't take it anymore. I took off running out of the bushes and across the lawn and back into my own yard. Just as I reached my front door I heard a horrified scream.

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><p><strong>Love hearing feedback from all of you! Again I hope you liked reading it! Thanks ~:D LG<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Rewrite part 2. Enjoy~**

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><p>'Why so serious?'<p>

Those words never left my mind. I couldn't help but even think whether or not what had happened…actually happened. That maybe it was just a deranged dream I had. Unfortunately the very real scratches from the bushes I was hiding in proved that theory wrong.

The past few days my parents, at least my mother, kept me home from school thinking that I was ill. She had even taken me to the doctor only to get the news that I was perfectly fine. Being from a strict household I knew not to tell my parents what had happened, what I had done and seen. Sneaking out to spy on the neighbors. Plus I knew they would find my story ridiculous, probably believe I had gone crazy and send me off to a therapist.

It had been a week since I had seen what had happened next door. The whole week not only being filled with sleepless nights but daydreams of the events. Of Jack…and that man. His father.

Lying in bed I tried to change every thought in my mind to a happy one, whether it was going on road trips with my parents or even just baking with my mom. None of them seemed to work however. I couldn't quite get any of those memories to fully leave my mind. It felt as if they would be there forever. I wondered if they would.

I could hear the footsteps of my mom approach my bedroom door. There were a few light knocks before the door swung open.

"Sweetheart, maybe you should get some fresh air. It's almost noon." My mother said coming over to the side of my bed to sit beside me. "You won't get any better lying in here."

I simply nodded not wanting to argue back with her. I changed into some war clothes as the weather outside was near freezing, at least to me, and made my way downstairs where my mother held up yet another coat to put on me. It would probably be my third one.

"Just stay right outside where I can see you, okay?" She said opening up the door for me. Again I only nodded in response and walked outside.

The sky was cloudy, I had pondered whether it would snow or if it was too cold to do so. I wrapped my arms around myself and walked out further into my front yard. I couldn't help but glance over at the house to my right, though never looking fully and directly at it. There was a small figure standing in the midst of the neighbors front yard.

Cautiously I had turned my full attention towards that figure, who was kicking around dirt aimlessly in the yard. They were no bigger than I was. I knew right off who it was. It was Jack.

I looked back at the window where I assumed my mother would be carefully watching my every move to see it empty. I decided to go over there, to see him.

After getting to what I guessed was a few feet away I couldn't help but mutter, "Jack?" The sudden voice seemed to have frightened him as he jumped and spun to see whom it was. All I could see where his bloodshot eyes, the rest of his face was covered with what looked like some sort of rag. He said nothing to me, simply stared at me.

"Hi" I squeaked out looking down at my shoes. "Are, um, are you okay?" I asked him looking back up at him again, keeping my voice as steady as I possibly could.

He only nodded and now like I had, begun looking down at his shoes.

"Its just I hear yelling from your house a lot…" I said easing my way into asking about what had happened. Why he was covering his face. When there was no response I began running through more questions of what and how I should ask until finally I heard him say something. Though his response was muffled by the fabric covering his mouth.

"Huh?" I asked getting a bit closer to him.

"My parents." He said in a louder voice. "They always fight. It's my dad usually…he always seems to start it."

"Oh" Was all I could think of to say back to him. "Why do you have that around your face?" I asked him.

The look in his eyes changed. They were fearful, they glanced over towards his own house almost as if making sure no one had been listening.

"Jack its ok." I assured him. "You can tell me."

"You'll think im a freak." He uttered. Why would he possibly think that? Whatever he was hiding under that scarf…scars, bruises; they were nothing he could control.

"You know I would never think that." I told him with a small smile. He looked at me for a few moments before turning away towards his house. "Jack!" I called out grabbing onto his arm. If he wasn't going to show me…then I was going to find out for myself.

He realized, mid grab, what I was doing and shoved me forcefully to the ground. As I pushed myself I couldn't help but notice the rag that had once covered Jacks face lay beside me.

Knowing I was wrong about trying to force him into something I shouldn't have I grabbed the rag and stood up handing it to him.

"Jack im so-"I stopped. He grabbed the rag from my hand and wrapped it around his face once more, but it was too late. I had already seen what it was hiding. There were deeply sliced, jagged scars at each corner of his mouth, carved upwards almost like a…a smile.


	3. Chapter 3

**Rewrite 3! Enjoy!**

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><p>I watched him quickly make his way back into his home, I stood there shocked by what I saw. His face…the scars…how could anyone do that to another person let alone their own child? I heard the voice of my mother calling me from the front door of my house, finally I was able to move away from the neighbors' yard and back to my own. I remember once reaching the front door I burst into tears, my mother quickly pulled me inside and shut the door.<p>

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" She asked me helping me further into the house, towards the living room. She sat me down on the couch and knelt beside me. I had no idea what to tell her, I mean do I tell her the truth? Or do I make up a lie? I knew a lie wouldn't help Jack at all, help was something he needed whether he wanted it or not.

"Its Jack- his face is…his face" I attempted to explain but the sobs got in the way.

"Jack? The boy next door? What about his face?" She asked me rubbing my arm gently trying to get me to calm down. "You can tell me, sweetie."

"Scars" I said finally. "He has scars on his face, mom." I told her, my voice still shaking.

"He probably just got into a little accident, like falling off his bike or-"

"NO!" I screamed catching her off guard. "It was his dad…his dad did it to him" I told her, my voice lowering.

She stared at me as if had just told her I committed some horrible crime. There was a long silence following this, beside a few sniffles from me still trying to calm down.

"Lets, lets just wait until your father gets home to talk about this, ok?" My mom finally said giving me a smile that I could only assume was forced. Not wanting, once again, to argue with her I nodded. I watched her stand up and walk back into the kitchen to begin preparing dinner.

I jumped off of the couch and made my way back into my bedroom. The thought of having to talk about this with my father was nerve-racking. My dad wasn't nearly as comforting and understanding as my mother was. I could already hear him, '_whether his own father did that to him or not is none of our business'_. I knew a lot of kids in my neighborhood were beaten…it wasn't uncommon honestly. My parents were some of the few who didn't take part in it, which was something I was very thankful for. But this is beyond what other parents did.

I had been inside my room for a couple hours before I heard the familiar sounds of a car pulling into the driveway. I opened my curtains on my window to see my father stepping out of his car. I felt the nervous feeling return to my stomach as I heard the front door open and close. I waited several minutes, wondering whether or not I should go down there yet. Finally I talking myself into it and headed out of my room and down the staircase. My parents were both in the kitchen, I could hear them talking, though it was all in whispers. Quietly I tiptoed over to the wall to try to listen in as best as I could, were they talking about me?

"Steve, Sarah was scared. More than I've ever seen her before." My mothers' voice said. "Maybe we should go talk with them and-"

"No" My father said sternly. "Charlie wouldn't do that to his son, Elaine. I just think its just Sarah's imagination."

"You don't think we should just invite them over to dinner?" my mom asked him. "I mean I haven't ever met their son before don't you think that's a bit odd?"

"Look I really don't think that is necessary. I work with the man everyday, he isn't that kind of guy." My dad assured her. This was the time I finally walked into the kitchen now, I'd heard enough. My father looked over to me with a smile before kissing me on the forehead and heading out to the living room. I turned my gaze to my mother who gave me yet another forced smile. She glanced up at the empty kitchen doorway and knelt down beside me.

"How about you and I take a pie over to the neighbors tomorrow?" She asked me. I knew this was her way of trying to help me without going against what my father said. I smiled and nodded to her. "Can you set the table for dinner?" She asked me, again I nodded and grabbed the plates and utensils from the kitchen counter and walked into the dining room. ~

The next morning I woke up early, I heard my father leaving for work at what I guessed was around six in the morning. The weather was getting colder and colder, it had even begun to snow during the night, which gave me a hint that it was getting closer to the holidays. My mom was already up and preparing what I guessed would be the pie for the trip over to the neighbors' house.

"Hi" I said walking up to her. She was pouring in the red filling into the pie crust; I had assumed it was cherry filling. She slid it into the oven and turned to me.

"It will bake for about an hour then we can go ok?" She told me.

For the hour of waiting for the pie to finish baking my mom decided to braid my hair for me. She told me funny stories about her childhood, trying her best to get me into a good mood before it was time to go over their. I don't know how she does it but it worked. I helped my mom take the pie out of the oven and for a few more minutes we let it cool before we slid on our coats. I tied my shoes and watched my mom wrap by the pie in saran wrap.

We exited the door and headed out onto the driveway. We walked around, not stepping on the neighbor's yard as my mom sees it as rude, and made our way onto their driveway. Their car wasn't in the driveway, so I assumed 'Charlie', as my father called him, was at work. Probably with my dad.

My mom rang the doorbell as I stood back and waited for someone to open the door. I couldn't help but nervously look down at my feet as we waited. There was a rustling from the behind the door which caught my attention, the door opened up to reveal a woman around my mothers' age.

"Hi, can I help you?" The woman asked, her head being the only thing visible as the rest of her was hidden behind the door.

"Hi, im Elaine Morrison, our husbands work together. This is my daughter Sarah, we are just bringing over a pie for you all." My mother said with a broad smile on her face.

"That is very kind of you." The woman said letting the door open up wider. "Im Christine." She told my mom, they shook hands. "I would invite you in, but, um, the house is a bit messy at the moment. Maybe another time?"

"That would be wonderful." My mother said with a smile. "My daughter is a friend of you son, Jack, she was wondering if she would be able to see him?"

The woman went pale, she looked down at me then back to my mom.

"I don't think that is possible either, he's been sick, very sick lately and we wouldn't want you to get what he has. Again maybe another time." She told us fumbling her words. "Thank you so much for the pie, I should get back inside to take care of Jack…it was nice to meet you two." She told us giving us one final smile before shutting the door.

"We tried" My mom said grabbing a hold of my hand. "Let's go home."

I turned my head back towards the neighbors house as we walked back home; Jack wasn't sick. I think my mother knew that as well.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading~ LG<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Rewrite 4! I have a feeling the story is going to be much longer...haha Enjoy~~**

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><p>I spent he rest of the day sitting inside my bedroom thinking over everything. I could hear the sounds of my father returning home for the day but I felt no reason to go down and visit him. I blankly stared outside the window watching my father walk to the front door of the house and enter. I turned my gaze towards the sky that was now darkening. Since it was Christmas break I could stay up a little later than usual at night. It didnt do me any good usually to go to bed early anyway, my thoughts would keep me wide awake through the night, usually ending with only a few hours of sleep total for the night. It was unfortunate, I was only 11 and I was going through stages of severe sleep deprivation.<p>

After another hour my mom finally came up to get me for dinner, like we usually had on Tuesday nights we were eating pork chops. My dad was rambling on about another breakthrough with the company, I tuned out immediately. It wasn't until the tone of my dads voice changed when I turned my attention back.

"Charlie told me that you two went over there this evening." My dad said. I glanced up at my dad then back to my food that I was casually pushing around the plate with my fork.

"We brought them a pie, that's all." She informed him, staring down at her food just as I had.

"I told you not to go over there." He said back to her. She didn't respond this time, she seemed to be thinking carefully over an answer.

"Sarah just wants to see her friend." She told him, his eyes shot from my mom to me, my eyes flicked back to my food trying not to make eye contact with him.

"I talked to Charlie about that." My dad said, his voice seeming fairly calmer now. "He told me that Jack got injured the other day-"

"His mom said he was sick." I told him, stepping into the conversation now.

"What?" My dad asked, I wasn't sure whether it was a rhetorical question to me interrupting him or if he genuinely didn't hear what I had said. I took my chances.

"His mom told us that he was sick; not injured." I said looking over at my mom who still seemed to be more fascinated by her food than anything.

"Injured, sick, same thing." My dad grumbled back. I didn't respond back, the rest of the dinner was silent until my mother brought back the topic of my dads work. ~

After dessert I was sent back to my room to go to sleep for the night. Like the many nights before I just lay limp in my bed staring up at the white ceiling of my room. I wasn't sure how long I had been in bed before I heard a loud crash from outside followed up by yelling.

"GET OUT!" was all I could make out from what the voice was yelling. My eyes widen recognizing the voice, it was Jacks father, this was happening from next door. I threw the comforter off of myself and hopped out of bed towards my window. I could barely see anything from the dark outside but I could make out a figure making its way across the neighbors' yard. Not being able to control myself and the urge of wanting to see what was happening I decided, for the second time, to sneak out.

This time I was much more prepared, I slid on some snow boots and a heavy duty coat to keep myself warm. Still with my pajamas on I made my way down the stairs and out of the house in less than a minute. I made sure to softly shut the door behind me before I started to make my way down the same road the figure was going.

The lights to the neighbors' house were all off with the exception of a single light in the top corner of the house. I changed my attention from the house to the figure a ways in front of me, of course I wouldn't be following some random person if I didn't think I would be safe doing it. Then again I didn't exactly know for sure whether it was Jack or not…but I had a strong feeling. Who else would get kicked out of the house like that?

I walked all the down the street, keeping my distance before I watched them finally sit onto a bench at the bus stop. Quickening my pace I finally reached the spot where the figure was. I slowed down as I approached the person who I was certain now was Jack.

"Jack?" I asked softly, I could tell he hadn't realized I was here as he jumped by the sudden talking. He stood up from the bench and stared at me for a while before saying something.

"What're you doing here?" He asked me. I couldn't see too much in the dark but I could make out the bold features on his face, including the scars which in the dark I could mistake for a horrible wide grin on his face.

"I heard a loud noise outside." I said sort of hinting of course from his own house. "Then I saw you." He said nothing back, he only looked down towards the ground at his feet; his usual nervous stance. "Follow me." I told him waving him to walk with me back to my house, as I walked a few steps back down the street I realized he hadn't been following. I retraced my steps and found him in the same exact spot, im not even sure whether he had looked up from the ground once. "Jack, come on!"

This time after a few moments of hesitation he followed. As we walked, we walked in silence. There wasn't much to be said I suppose. As we passed his house I could tell Jacks pace quickened, before he must have thought I was trying to talk him into going back to his house.

He followed close behind me as we made our way inside my home. We quietly made our way up the stairs and into my bedroom, though on my way I snuck into my mom's cabinet and grabbed several extra blankets. I stole a few pillows from the couches downstairs and began making somewhat of a bed on the floor for Jack for the night.

"You really don't have to do this." He told me, just as I placed the final pillows down on the floor.

I looked up at him with a smile and shrugged, "I know." I began layering blanket after blanket on the floor, I glanced over at him as I did so, he seemed as if he was unknowingly touching the scars on his face before glancing up to me.

"You must think im gross" He said acting as if this was something he had done to himself.

"I would never think that." I told him simply with a small smile. "Its getting late. Let's go to sleep." I said changing the subject drastically. I handed him the remaining blankets, I will admit I over did it on the blankets a bit but I wanted to make sure he was comfortable.

I slid of my shoes and jacket and got back into bed. I rolled over on my side and closed my eyes, but I was no where close to going to sleep. Apparently neither was Jack, "I don't want to go back there, Sarah." He whispered.

"You won't have to." I said back. It was silent now, this time as I closed my eyes I began to immediately drift off to sleep. I guess knowing that he was safe was enough to calm me enough to sleep. ~

The next morning I awoke feeling, for the first time in a month, well rested. I glanced down at the lump on the floor that was covered in the numerous blankets I found around the house. He must have still been sleeping. I threw the blankets off of myself and tiptoed over him being sure not to wake him as I exited the room. I walked downstairs and into the dining room where my mom was sipping coffee and flipping through a book.

"Good morning." He she not even looking up from her book. I mumbled back somewhat of a 'good morning' back to her as I got a glass of orange juice. I wasn't sure what I should tell her or how I should tell her. Obviously I had to seeing as though she was going find out one way or another.

"I let Jack sleepover." I flat out told her. She immediately looked up from her book with wide eyes.

"Where is he?" She asked standing up from the dinner table letting the b book she was reading close shut losing her page.

"Upstairs." I said making sure I blocked her path before she could go up there to see.

"Do you realize that his parents are worried sick about him?" She asked crossing her arms over her chest. "They have been out looking for him all morning! They said he snuck out sometime during the night."

"Mom, they kicked him out of the house!" I told her, not believing what they told her.

"Well, that isn't what they-"She paused looking at the expression on my face. "Sarah, he is too young to be out without his parents."

"He said he doesn't want to go back there." I said through my teeth. I had never been this upset with my mom, I don't even know whether there was a time I back talked her or even argued with her.

"He has to go back." My mom said trying to convince me that she was right in the situation. Usually I would give in, but this was something I was adamant on. She didn't see what I saw.

"Mom, they-he hurts him! His dad attacked him!" I told her. "Mom, you have to believe me, he can't go back there."

"Bring him down here, we'll talk about it, ok?" She asked with a small comforting smile. I hesitated a bit before nodding and heading back upstairs.

As I made it back into my room, I knelt down beside jack who was still sound asleep. If I thought I slept bad I cant even imagine how it is living where he does and trying to get some sleep. "Jack?" I whispered shaking him a bit.

He threw off the blankets and jumped a bit when he saw me, he looked around my room clearly not having any memory of last night.

"You're okay, I brought you here last night, remember?" I asked him with a smile on my face. He seemed to remember a bit more as he looked down at the bed I had made for him. I must say it wasn't my best work. "Come on, I want you to meet my mom." I said standing up now, I reached a hand down toward him to help him up but he only stared at it before glancing up.

"Your mom can't see me." He said dully; I let my hand fall back to my side.

"Jack, its fine she will help you!" I assured him. He looked from me to the door until finally getting to his feet and like last night he followed close behind me as we made our way downstairs. I brought him into the dining room only to find it empty, her coffee and book still lay on the dinner table untouched.

"Mom?" I called not understanding where she had gone to. I heard the sound of the front door open and close, I glanced at Jack who seemed more than nervous. "Mom?" I called again, this time receiving an answer.

"In here!" My mom called from what I assumed was the living room. I had Jack follow me around now as I walked back towards where the stairs were but into the room right beside them. Inside sat my mom, but she wasn't alone. On the couch beside her sat not only Jacks mother, but his Father. My mom brought his parents here. She lied to me.

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><p><strong>Hope you liked it! Thanks for reading ~LG<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Rewrite 5! Enjoy~**

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><p>"Jack there you are!" The woman, Christine I think her name was, the one my mom and I gave the pie to, approached Jack with arms wide open. "We were so worried!" I wasn't sure this was genuine or not; I mean it was his father that had kicked him out after all, but if I heard what happened from my house there was a good chance she heard it from upstairs. She pulled Jack into a clearly uncomfortable hug that was very much unwanted on Jacks end. "Thank you so much for letting us know." Jacks mother told my mom.<p>

"Of course." My mom said pulling me to her side making sure I didn't do anything to stop this. What could I possibly do at this point? Jacks eyes avoided mine, I hoped he knew I had no part in doing this, that this wasn't something I planned as a way to force him back home. Honestly if there was any sort of plan it was so he wouldnt have to go back home.

I felt my stomach drop as I watched Jacks father grab a hold of Jacks arm and tug him out of the house and out of sight. His mother sent my mom another thankful look before following her husband and son out the door. My mom and I stood standing side by side for a few moments before I finally pulled away from her. I felt her arm try to pull me back but I pushed it away from me and headed up stairs to my room.

"Sarah!" My mother called after me. I knew she was following me but I quickly shut my door and jumped into my bed, throwing the blankets over myself. I could feel the tears building up in my eyes from the thought of what was going to happen to Jack back at his 'home'. I couldn't honestly call it that for him; homes were supposed to be a place you could g to feel safe inside of, where the people inside care about you. Where he lived was…Hell. And the reason he was back in it was because of me; this was entirely my fault. How could I trust my mother? Why wouldn't I think she would do something like this? I realize that she was only doing what she thought was the 'right thing' but I just didn't understand why she couldn't see my side. I guessed it was because of my age.

I heard a knock on my bedroom door, I didn't make an effort to move however but I did hope that she would just leave instead of come inside. Unfortunately my mom can't read minds so she did what I was hoping she wouldn't.

The door opened and I could hear the footsteps coming over to where my bed was, "Sarah?" my mom's voice whispered. She was trying to comfort me but it was too late. I felt her sit down beside me on my bed. "I know you're mad…but one day you'll understand." My mom started. "If it were you I would hope they would do the same thing." I couldn't help but scoff at that comment. This is completely different. This was only making the situation worse, the words that were supposed to help only made this so much harder. I pulled the blanket off of my head revealing my tear streaked face, several more tears were making their way down but I didn't bother to wipe them away.

"Mom, you saw what he did to Jack." I said, my voice shaking. "You saw the scars!"

"We don't know for sure what caused those scars." My mother said immediately after in a stern voice. She knew the seriousness of those scars, she clearly hadn't believed me before when I told her about them. She might not know for sure that his father did but I knew for sure. I watched it happen.

I couldn't even look at her at this point, I realize that I was young, but how could she not believe me about something like this? I knew I couldn't personally do anything about this situation alone, I had known this from the moment I witnessed the incident. ~

My Christmas break ended the next week, Christmas was horribly awkward. My parents and I barely talked for the week I remained stationed at home, there was nothing really to talk about besides my mother asking what I thought about my presents or how dinner was. My father and mother barely talked to one another either. Well at least while I was around, I had a feeling I was the main topic of their conversations when I was away in my room.

My first day back at school, Jack was absent. I hadn't seen him since his parents took him away, I had a feeling his parents kept him inside in fear that I would be outside waiting. That wouldn't have been a problem seeing as though my father had made it clear he didn't want me outside either, even put locks on the door during the night so I couldn't sneak out. You would think he would do this to keep people out of the house, but instead he was doing it so I wouldn't leave. I felt like a prisoner.

I was walking home from the bus stop after school, the one time I could be outside with the exception of waiting for the bus to take me to school, I couldn't help but notice the group gathered around outside of my house, there were police cars and even an ambulance outside too. I began running as fast as I could down the street praying in my mind that my mother was okay. It wasn't until I was a few feet away that I realized it wasn't my house they were gathered around, it was the neighbors. Jacks house.

I pushed my way through to the front to see what was happening. I watched as they rolled out a stretcher with a lifeless body on it. My heart began racing; he did it. He finally did it. He killed Jack.

"Back up!" the police yelled to the crowd motioning us to move away from the scene. I was horrified, I couldn't take my eyes off of the body on the stretcher.

"HE KILLED HIM!" A woman yelled from inside the house. Christine appeared running out, later being grabbed by one of the police officers, she continued to yell. "HE STABBED HIM!"

Many people gasped at the severity of what was going on in our usually quiet little neighborhood. I watched the stretcher being loaded in the ambulance now, the crowd began to thin as the ambulance took off. But I stayed.

I was waiting to see him, Jacks father be taken out of the house in handcuffs. I wanted to see it more than anything. I had hoped he hadn't gotten away, that he was still inside of the house but the police were merely talking to him before escorting him to the cop car.

Finally the moment came when I saw several police officers leaving the house, the final one to leave however had someone beside him. The person who had committed this crime. It wasn't Jacks father, Charlie. It wasn't Christine, she had been taken to the hospital as well for reasons unknown. But it was Jack. His shirt was covered in…blood. His hands were almost covered the deep red color as well.

"JACK!" I cried running up to him only to be pulled away by another officer. Jacks eyes were locked onto mine as he was helped inside of a cop car, on his face was a smile. Not a comforting forced smile, but a truly, genuinely happy smile. Like a smile a kid would have plastered on their face when first seeing Disneyland. I watched as he was driven away inside of the cop car, his eyes never left mine until he was out of sight.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading~ LG<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Here is the new and improved 15 years later rewrite. Enjoy~**

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><p><strong>* 15 years later*<strong>

Finally I set down my journal that I had been reading for the past week. The journal was written by me when I was in my teens, it was a project my therapist had me write during my sessions with him. In it were past stories from my life that she wanted to write out. My parents had me see a therapist for about 5 years after everything had happened. They thought I was distraught and didn't know how to cope with anything after that, I suppose that it partially true, but not completely. The nightmares continued to wake me up during the night, but they changed in the midst of everything. It wasnt Jacks father that was attacking me anymore….it was Jack. However those dreams began to fade as I reached the age of 18, the time when I was about to head off to college.

The reason I say the whole therapist thing was forced was due to the fact I believed my father made me do it just to get me out of the house. He couldn't deal with the fact I was right that whole time. The police did learn that the scars were from Jacks father, and he hated the fact I knew about it and he didn't. After I was old enough I moved away from my parents. Away from that neighborhood, even out of the state. Living in New York was too much for me, so I went to a place familiar to me. A place where I remember visiting many times growing up with family, Washington State. I felt awful about leaving my mother alone with my father, but I had no choice, I had to get out of there. I went to school for a few years in Seattle until finally dropping out due to stress. I had difficultly in school, my therapist pegged it as my attention deficit disorder, ADD. I was diagnosed with this in my several therapist sessions, which didn't surprise me much, I had always had trouble keeping focus in school.

A year after dropping out I found myself working at a company as a secretary at a front desk. I have been working at this job for the past few months and I already found myself becoming bored with it. Actually I found it boring the first few hours of work. Though I had to maintain it as it was the only source of income for me at the moment. I lived an apartment that was located only a few blocks from my work, which is good for me seeing as I don't have a car.

The apartments that I live in are, well, dangerous to say the least; break ins almost every other week. Never have had one in my own, though I suppose I don't exactly have things people would want to steal.

I lived alone which isn't a big surprise to me or to people who know me, im not really the girlfriend 'type', or at least I didn't think so. I couldn't say I have ever had a real relationship before, I didn't see the need for one to be honest. Maybe that was just my way of saying that it wasnt, well, isnt exactly an option for me. Don't get me wrong im not ugly, or at least not if I actually try to make myself look decent, but I definitely wasn't stunning.

As I walked home from work, having to do unasked for overtime for my boss, I could feel the raindrops hitting the top of my head. I briskly jogged inside of my apartment just in time before it started to pour rain outside. As I walked up the dark stairway to the third floor where my room was, I slid off my wet coat and undid my tied back hair. I unlocked my door and stepped inside throwing my jacket on the floor where I usually did, a bad habit I picked up after living alone for so long, I remember when I did this as I kid my mom would have a fit.

I set my work bag down that was filled with my laptop and numerous amounts of paperwork I had to bring home as I didn't have to time to finish it at work. Tapping the answering machine button I walked over to my fridge to find something to eat for dinner…and well lunch as I haven't exactly eaten much today besides the banana I had this morning.

Most of the messages were old messages from the apartment complex landlord saying how they were going to begin remodeling the building next door; yet another reason I wouldn't be able to get any sleep, I'll have to now deal with the sound of walls being torn down and hammers rebuilding said walls.

The next one was the one that caught my attention however. I waked over to replay it to make sure I had heard it right:

"_Sarah Its your father, your mom has been in a car accident and she's in the hospital now. She had been in a coma ever since the accident, the doctors don't know how long it will be before she comes to, but I thought I should call you and let you know. Please call me."_

I couldn't believe it. My mom, the one person who I care about in this world, was lying unconscious inside of a hospital bed while I was sitting in an apartment 3000 miles away. I knew I had to go see her. The thing was all I didn't exactly have the money for a plane ticket, I sure as hell wasn't going to ask for my dads help. I did have money left over from school, but I was keeping that to have the option of possibly returning to school.

I pulled out my laptop from my work bag and opened it up to a travel website. I began searching through several flights for the cheapest ones, which lets face it isnt easy looking for a last minute plane ride to New York. I wasn't sure how long I was on for, maybe two hours of searching many different websites, until finally coming across a cheap flight. I will deal with the returning ticket later.

I went through the process of purchasing the flight then having to talk myself into calling into work. The flight left early tomorrow morning and I needed to get at least a week of work off. After going through several scenarios of how this could go in my head I finally called. A familiar voice answered, it was Amy the other secretary I worked with, and the very person who I wanted to have answer.

"Gary Roberts office how may I help you?" She answered.

"Amy, its Sarah." I said running a nervous hand through my hair. "Im going to be out of town for the week…my mom is in the hospital and im leaving tomorrow."

"Uh, a little short notice, Sar." She said using the nickname I told her many times I hated. "I mean obviously you have to go...I get it but just to warn you the leave you're taking is unpaid."

"I expected that." I told her shrugging. "I just wanted to call before I left."

"Im sorry to hear about your mom, hopefully everything will be okay!" She told me.

"Thanks, I'll see you sometime next week." I told her with a smile on my face. "Bye." I hung up the phone and threw it on the couch before letting out a loud sigh. Now I was going to have to pack, I hated packing; the last time I had to pack was when I was leaving home.

I walked into my room and began throwing things into a duffel bag: jeans, t shirts, jackets, shoes, dresses. I had trouble not only with the idea of packing but with the packing itself. I always over pack and bring things I really don't need.

After another hour of packing practically my entire apartment into a single duffel bag I found myself passed out in my bed. It wasn't until the 6am wakeup from my alarm clock had I realized I had fallen asleep, fortunately the alarm clock that was supposed to wake me up for work woke me up in time to catch a bus to head to SeaTac airport for my flight. I decided to leave my work bag at home as I didn't want to spoil my 'vacation'. That was a horrible thing to use as my reasoning for leaving, my mother being in the hospital wasn't exactly what a vacation should be. I suppose I used that phrase as I haven't exactly had more than a day or two off of work at a time.

I caught the 6:30 bus to the airport and found myself inside the terminal within an hour. It wasn't busy seeing as though it was 7am on a Wednesday morning. I took a seat inside the plane at around 7:30, sitting in the aisle seat. I hated flying, it made me nervous. I would have panic attacks whenever I would go on planes when I was a lot younger. That's why eventually we stopped going. I figured the last time I would ever go on one was when I moved here. Well, maybe not the last time, but certainly the last time for several years.

As the plane took off I couldn't help but keep my hands clenched onto the armrests as we made our way further into the air. Once in the air for the first few minutes I began to finally relax my body, I took a complimentary bag of peanuts from the flight attendant and a cup of water and decided to try to get some more sleep. Soon enough I will be back in Gotham.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading~ LG :)<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**Here is rewrite part 7! I decided this story is going to go a different way so I hope you like it. I deleted the chapters going up to 14, the final chapter, so everyone would begin to get updates again. Let me know what you think!**

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><p>After a five and a half hour flight we made it to New York, safe and sound, meaning in my mind the plane didn't crash. I did almost have a heart attack when the plane hit turbulence however. As I walked off of the plane I couldn't help but realize how fast this all was going, I mean I hadn't even gotten the call from my father more than a day ago. I pulled out my cell phone from my jean pocket then flipped it open and began dialing the number I had gotten off of the answer machine, my fathers phone number.<p>

It rang a few times before I heard a voice on the other end, "hello?" The voice asked, I recognized it as my fathers but it sddounded different. It was raspy and a lot lower than usual, but none the less it was my dad.

"Hi, dad." I said moving out of the way of the people getting off of their flight. "It's Sarah." I added realizing he probably didn't recognize my voice. It's been that long since I talked to him.

"You got my message?" He asked me, I could hear movement in the background of what I could only assume was nurses.

"Yeah, um im actually in Gotham, now. I just got off of my flight." I told him making my way to the luggage pickup. "What hospital is she at?"

"Sarah, let me pick you up-"

"No dad im fine, just which hospital?" I asked him feeling myself get a bit agitated.

"I know you're mad at me but just let me pick you up and we can talk about it." He said, I stopped having to think over this for a bit.

"Fine" I said finally pulling my duffel bag out and wrapping the strap around my shoulder. "Im at LaGuardia airport…erm, how long do you think it will take you to get here?"

"Im already on my way." He told me. "I'll be there in less than a half hour." I hung up the phone and let out a loud sigh, the one thing I planned on not having happened, happened. Perfect. I was going to have to spend alone time with my father sooner than I thought.

I waited outside for at least forty five minutes, of course much longer than my father anticipated, before a familiar car pulled up, it was the same one he's had ever since I was little. Amazing how it still runs, not very well, but it runs. I stood up from the bench I was sitting on for the several minutes I was waiting and watched as my dad stepped out of the car. He looked different, like his voice, I could tell it was him but there was something very different. He looked a lot older, I realize I have been gone for a few years but not enough for him to look this different. His hair was almost entirely grey which is a big switch up from his usual black hair, the hair I had inherited. His blue eyes were extremely dull and almost lifeless.

"Hi dad." I said putting on a forced smile. "How are you?"

"Im great." He said pulling me into a hug, as he let go he grabbed my bag from me and set it in the back seat of the car before opening up the door for me. "How are you?"

"Fine." I said just before getting in the car and shutting it closed. Now you may be wondering why I would act so cold to him, but growing up with the man was unbearable. I mean it caused me to move across the country. Growing up I would find myself fighting with him non stop about things that were pointless, at least they were to me. I mean the man forced me into seeing a therapist which in my opinion only made me more distraught over what I saw and then he would bring that up as a defense in our arguments. He would act as if I should be living in a mental institution.

"What happened to mom?" I asked him changing the subject from stupid small talk to the actual issue of why I was here.

"Car accident." He told me plainly. "She was going to work-"

"Wait mom works?" I asked him. "She never worked when I lived with you, why would she start now?"

"We are having trouble with money these days." He said trailing off. "After I lost my job we had to file for bankruptcy."

I hadn't realized so much had gone on after I left…I mean the few times I had talked to my mom she never said anything like my dad losing his job or having to file for bankruptcy. And I thought I was doing bad on my own…

"I really do miss you, Sarah." He told me making me get a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. "I wish you would move back." I didn't respond. I merely just turned my focus out the window, it began to rain outside and I focused all of my attention on the rain drops that were rolling down the glass.

After several minutes of staring out the window I saw the Gotham General Hospital coming into view now, it was one of the largest hospitals in the city. Before the car could even come to a complete stop in a parking spot outside of the massive building I found myself unbuckling my seatbelt and stepping out of the car.

I made my way alone inside of the hospital and towards the front desk. There was a small chubby brunette sitting behind the desk filling out paperwork, she glanced up to see me approaching her desk and asked, "How can I help you, sweetie?"

"My mom is in here?" I told her in more of a questioning tone than an answer.

"What's her name?" the woman asked looking towards her computer preparing to type.

"Oh, right um, Elaine Morrison. Im her daughter." I told her tapping my fingers on the desk.

"Right through those doors is an elevator, her room is on the third floor. Room 201." She told me with a small smile. I nodded and thanked her before hurrying into the hallway to find the elevator before my father came in. I found myself sharing an elevator with four rather large men, I punched the level three button and waited awkwardly for the floor to arrive.

Once it did I swiftly made my way out and into the new all white hallway, there were nurses and doctors walking in every direction, I looked back and forth between the two hallways on either side of me and finally found the room numbers. As I slowly walked down glancing at every door and reading the number, I came to a halt outside of room 201.

Inside I knew my mom was in there, lying unconscious, I had to sort of prep myself for what I was about to see. I took a deep breath and stepped inside the room, I could see a body lying stiff in the hospital beds, I knew it was my mom…but it wasn't. I recognized her only by her long red hair, but other than that I couldn't see her in this body. Her face was completely covered in bruises and cuts, it was entirely swollen making her features disproportioned. All I could see from her arms were that they were the same as her face, bruised and battered. This wasn't a car accident like my father had told me, this was a full on car wreck. I knew it was bad because of her coma but this wasn't what I expected.

"It would've been nice if you waited." My fathers voice said from behind me. I didn't say anything. I couldn't say anything. I continued to stare at my mom, who at this point might not even come out of this coma. I felt a lump in my throat and tears well up in my eyes, but I knew not to cry. Not while he was here. I could let him see me like this. He had barely seen me cry in my life, and I wasn't dare going to let him see me, after all of these years, see me break down.

I felt a hand land on my shoulder as if trying to soothe me.

"Im going go for a walk." I told him pushing his hand off of my shoulder, I walked out of the room that I walked into not five minutes ago. I paced up and down the hallway trying my best to keep myself together. I knew if my mother were to pass away I would have zero contact with my father. Ever. I barely kept in contact with my mom because of him. She was the only thing that could get me anywhere near my father, she was the only one who meant anything to me. My mom might have lied a few times to me, but I knew in the long run it was for my own good. After my several visits with Dr. Clarkson, my therapist, he explained it to me pretty well. Though I ignored it then, as I was a moody teenager, I still never forgot about it.

Finally I talked myself into going back to the room. As I made my way I could see the lights flicker in the hallway, I pegged that only to being old light-bulbs.

I walked into the hospital and found my father flipping through a newspaper. Just as he looked up to me the lights shut off, I don't mean just the lights in our room, and I meant the entire floor, possibly the whole building. This is including the machines that were hooked up to my mom. I felt my heart race and panic began to set in. I ran out to the doorway using the light from the window to find my way, I could see figures running back and forth trying to figure out what was going on. They seemed as panicked as I was. I would've guessed a back up generator would have flipped on by now, but no. Just as I was about to go out to really see what was going on I felt a hand grab onto my wrist.

"Sarah stay here." My dad said, I pulled my wrist out of his hand and headed out of the room. I felt myself being pushed as people were running past me from every direction.

I felt a hand return to my wrist and I whipped my head around, "Dad let me-" I stopped when I realized this was someone I didn't know. He was much larger than my father was, easily over 6 feet tall, that was all I could see in the dark. He dragged me down the hallway pushing past all of the people.

"Let me go!" I yelled trying to get out of his grip. I began kicking, hitting, biting, everything I could to try to get him away from me. I felt a hand strike me across the face causing me to drop down to my knees. The hand left my wrist and instead I felt myself picked up by my waist and throw over someone's shoulder.

I felt all of the blood rushing to my head as I hung upside down, I could tell the man was running down stairs now, finally a bright light surrounded me. We must have been outside.

I could hear talking but the lightheadedness kept me from hearing everything they were saying. All I could hear was my heartbeat that felt as if it was right beside my ear drum. Hands pulling me off of the shoulder and I could feel myself being practically thrown into something. I opened my eyes and found myself inside of a van. Inside there was four others, a girl around 10, a woman around my moms age, and two people around my own age, a woman and a man.

Their hands and feet were all tied up and their mouths were covered tightly with duct tape. I knew I had gotten myself into something, something bad. And what could have prevented it was listening to my father.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading~ LG<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Rewrite part 8! :D**

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><p>There were two men sitting in the front seat with masks on, one of them jumped back from the front seat and into the back with us with another roll of duct tape, for what I assumed was for me. I pushed myself into the corner of the van that I could feel began moving. The man, who was much larger than myself was able to grab hold of my leg, and pull me towards him. Once again I began doing everything to get him away from me, but like before none of it worked. My hands were forced together and tied while my mouth was taped shut, but I still continued to scream even if it was muffled.<p>

I could hear the sound of police sirens from somewhere outside of the van, I began to get a small glimmer of hope thinking that maybe they knew we had kidnapped. As the sirens eventually began to fade and were definitely much further away, I could feel my hope for getting out of here begin to do the same.

The car continued to drive for several minutes, though the minutes felt like hours. I sat in the corner of the van attempting to slide my wrists from the duct tape, but it was on too tight. So tight in fact that I could see my arms turning a bit discolored.

"Did you know where we're heading?" One of the men asked from the front seat. I stopped what I was doing to listen in, the others did as well; they both ripped off their clown masks, what was behind them shocked me the most. They were two of the men that I was in the elevator with.

"Yeah, its some abandoned house out in the middle of nowhere." The other man said. "The boss has been using it for months and the cops still haven't found out about it."

That was the last thing I could heard from the front as the van began driving on gravel taking over my hearing. I could feel my heart beating faster and faster as we drove further and further. The further away we were, the lessened possibility of someone finding us. Saving us.

Finally after several more minutes of being stuck in the back of this van, it came to a stop. At this point I was certain I would have a heart attack for the pace my heart was beating, im not a religious person, but not once did I stop praying that we could get out of this. The others were in the same dilemma I was in, I knew if we had any shot of getting out we would have to work together to do it. What I really didn't understand with all of this is why they would choose someone so young, that little girl was no older than 10 years old. If any of us could be saved it should be her.

The two men got out of the front of the van, I could hear them walking around towards where the door was, where I was by but they didn't rush to get us out. It sounded like they were having a conversation with others outside of the van, again I attempted to slide off the duct tape from my hands and maybe jump out after they opened the doors. The force of the tape against my skin only caused there to be more burns, I could feel my skin getting rawer underneath the tape.

Finally the doors swung open, being the closest one by the door I was grabbed first. I was pulled onto my feet, several thoughts were running through my mind of whether or not I should try to fight my way out of this or just to save my strength. There were several more men here and I knew even if I was to get away from this one, I would have to attempt to outrun the rest of them. My odds were very much against me in that case.

I was being dragged once more into an old run down looking house; everything else around the house was trees. I knew we were in the middle of nowhere, a place where the police had a very slim chance of finding us. I could hear the others being pulled out and muffled screams coming from behind me. The grip the man hand on my arm grew tighter the closer we drew to the inside of the house. I could feel tears forming inside my eyes partially disfiguring my vision, they weren't from the situation, it was for the fact that my stubbornness and arrogance towards my father is what got me here. If I had merely listened to him I would still be inside that hospital with my mom. My mom…the hospitals power had been shut off. The feeling of not knowing whether my mother was still alive or not brought the tears to the point they were uncontrollably streaming down my face.

I was sat down into a chair in the middle of an empty room, there were more chairs being brought in now and the rest of the people taken from the hospital were forced into them. The tape covering my mouth was ripped off leaving what I was sure to be a bright red mark covering the lower half of my face. As the girl beside me had her tape taken off from her mouth she immediately began screaming for help, I closed my eyes as I watched as one of the men's hands swing down towards her face I could hear a cracking sound from beside me knowing he had just struck the side of her face. She was dead quiet now knowing the consequences that were to come with screaming. However I couldn't help but think that that was only a warning.

"Is the boss almost here?" One of the now unmasked men asked. "He was supposed to be here before us."

Before anyone of them could answer you could hear the sound of a car driving up the gravel filled road. You could hear the sounds of it coming to a stop and the car door opening and closing. By this time the men were scrambling around trying to find a place to go, it was almost funny. These men who were over 6 feet tall and 200 pounds were cowering over a place to stand to await their 'boss'. I couldn't even imagine what this guy could look like. I wished the windows around the house weren't covered with boards; it would give me the ability to see who this guy was. Why they were so fearful of him.

The door swung open to reveal a few more men, who were still wearing clown masks, though the last man didn't have a mask on. His face was merely painted to look like a clown, black paint circled his eyes, the rest of his face painted what im sure was a white color but after the day has gone through faded to either blotchy grey color or to his real skin. Over his mouth was a bright red paint that was curled up as if to symbolize a smile.

"These must be our new 'guests'." He said looking over each one of us, before his eyes could reach mine I looked down towards my lap. His voice sounded more cartoonish than anything, not like a real person.

"Why did you bring us here?" A voice asked, I knew it was one of the others in the chairs beside me. It was a male voice.

"Why not bring you here?" He answered sounding more than amused with his 'answer'. "You know I thought it was very nice of me to let you all sit here without that tape around your mouths. But if this is how you want to repay me-"

"I don't owe you shit, freak." The man answered. I winced as he said that, I wasn't sure whether it was hearing that word used like this and having the flashbacks of being called it so many times in school or if it was the thought of what was going to happen too this guy having said that.

"Arrogance won't get you far in this world." He told him leaning down towards him. He walked back away towards one of his men, his back turned to us until final he spun around on his heal, gun raised and pulled the trigger, shooting the man who had talked back. "See?"

The woman beside me began screaming at the top of her lungs at the horrible sight of what I can imagine the dead, blood covered body beside her looked liked. I couldn't see much from around her, but I could see the eerie stillness coming from the body beside her.

"Now unless you want to end up like him" He pointed towards the man he had just shot, looking each of us directly, but again I lowered my eyes, "I would follow everything I tell you."

It was silent between the rest of us in the chairs and even from the men standing around. Some of the men dragged the dead body out of the room, giving me a good look at what the girl had seen. And let me tell you she had every right to scream like she did.

I watched as the clownish man waved his hand at one of the men as if to go fetch him something. Like a perfectly trained dog the man went off out of the room and not a few seconds later brought out a camera. The man handed it to his boss and I watched as he flipped the switch turning it on, I could see the bright red light in the corner of the camera.

"Ok, now each of you say your name to the camera" He said letting out a small laugh at the end. I watched him shove the camera in the face of the first person in the chair; it was the woman who was around the age of my mom.

"Debra" She said in a voice that was attempted to stay firm. He moved over to the younger girl, I held my breath as I watched her.

"Amy" She said softly, he repeated the names to himself, I wasn't sure whether he had realized he was saying them aloud or not.

He skipped over the chair that still had blood splattered on it and moved on to the girl beside me, I continued to hold my breath.

"Leslie"

"Leslie" He repeated again now moving over to me, my eyes still down on my lap. I felt a hand grab roughly onto my chin and shove it upwards, my eyes weren't staring at the camera as I intended. Instead they were locked onto the mans mouth, well, it wasn't exactly his mouth. It was what was around it. The red paint he had covering his mouth was also covering two long jagged scars running from each corner, both sides curled up as if in a smile.

I would have recognized those scars anywhere. I still see them in my dreams, well; I would call them more of nightmares than dreams. They were exactly the same though on a much broader, adult-like face.

"Jack" I whispered unknowingly aloud still staring directly at the scars. I came to however, but this was only when I watched as the camera was thrown from his hands, the sound of it crashing on the ground brought me out of my trance. A glove covered hand grabbed tightly onto my jaw, squeezing my cheeks together. He lifted me out of my seat and pulled my face towards his, making sure we were almost nose to nose before talking.

"What did you say?" His cartoonish voice left and was replaced by a low deep growl. I could feel my eyes watering up from both the pain from the tight grip he had on my face and the fear of looking him directly in the eyes. I kept quiet, not saying a single word, though I wasn't sure if I even could. I was pushed back roughly into my chair almost causing it to fall back but I managed to balance it back with my weight.

"Lock em up" He said before exiting the room, leaving only us four and the several men alone. I was grabbed by my arm again into a standing position and was pulled into what reminded me of an empty, dirty version of my old kitchen from when I was younger. Two men pushed a table a few feet to the side to reveal a small trap door under it. One of the men pulled it open and pushed me in first. My feet found a few concrete stairs that led down to a pitch black room, only from the light showing through could I see that it was empty as well.

I stopped once I reached the bottom, the other three were forced in as well. After the older woman, Debra I think it was, they shut it, you could hear them fumbling around with what I assumed was the lock before you could hear the sounds of footsteps walking away.

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><p><strong>Like always let me know what you think and if there is anything you think I should work on! Thanks for reading! ~LG<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Rewrite part 9! :D**

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><p>For the next few hours I found myself huddled to myself in the corner of some sort of basement. It was freezing, there was nothing to keep me warm beside my own arms which were wrapped around my legs. The others were on the other side of the room, well, actually they could have been right beside me for all I knew. I couldn't see anything in the darkness, there were some things I could make out but it was mostly from sound not by sight. I had thought about what had happened up there, with him, I knew what I had done was stupid, but I couldn't help it. It was out of reflex that it happened. Those scars…they were exactly how they were on Jack. It had to have been him, how many people could that have happened to?<p>

Maybe I was imagining things, I mean being kidnapped is enough to make anyone lose their minds a little, right?

I could hear people whispering, making my guess about them being on the other side of the room correct. I could hear small cries coming from the little girl, a soothing voice could be heard trying to calm her but I knew, and I believe whoever was calming her knew, that it would do no good.

I folded my arms over my knees that were pressed tightly against my chest as I sat against the concrete walls. I laid my head on top of them trying to get some sort of comfort from this all. I couldn't help but ask myself thousands of questions from my time being down here, like 'why me?' 'why any of us?'. I knew they had picked us completely from random, this again was only a guess. I mean I had just come here not even eight hours ago; they couldn't possibly have their eyes on me as a planned hostage, could they?

Then I began thinking, did he plan it? If this man really was Jack, had he been following me? Did he even plan for my mom to be in a car crash knowing it would bring me here?

I only mumbled how stupid and paranoid I was to myself then shut my eyes tightly. I wondered whether or not the others thought that I was crazy, talking to myself, and what not. I suppose at this point I don't really care what they thought; if they felt the same way I did right now they were just as trapped in their minds as I.

I had to keep myself busy somehow, though again I could only use my mind, I tried to picture myself out of here with my mom, laughing and talking about life. I desperately missed my mom. I felt awful about having not seen her for so many years, the only reason being my father. Though I hoped she knew why I had done this, I even wondered whether he had abused her like he had me after I was gone. No not physical abuse…sometimes though I believe that would have been better. At least those scars could fade. No, he mentally abused me. Telling me that I was crazy, that nothing I would do could ever amount to anything. I had to try to think it was only me he had done this to, my mother didn't deserve it, whether I would like to believe I didn't either might be a bit of a lie. I have had my share of 'rebellion' against my parents, mostly my father of course. Sneaking out after curfew, stealing money from them, starting bad habits like smoking or drinking. It was embarrassing thinking back on all the things I had done; like my therapist had told them, it was just to 'get their attention'. I suppose that could be true. But when I did have my fathers' attention he would take advantage of it.

Maybe I was crazy. Maybe seeing a therapist was the right thing for me, thinking back to my journal I had written when I was younger, the one I had just finished rereading before coming out here, made me realize I did have many things wrong with me. Depression had taken over most of my teen years leading to what my therapist called a 'backlash' against my parents. I should be grateful im over that, though I don't feel like I am completely at times. Depression might still be a big section of my life, and might be for years to come. This situation was definitely not helping with it either.

My eyes shot open as I heard a thud from around me, I opened my eyes to see a stream of light shining through the trapdoor revealing a bald headed man stepping down into the basement. He looked at the group in the far corner across from me than turned his head to find me.

"You" He said pointing directly to me. "Come with me." This was it, I was his next victim, and maybe if I hadn't been so careless I wouldn't have let what I said slip out. But now that I have it has cost me my life. I stood up from the ground brushing off as much dirt as I could from myself and began walking towards the stairs. I glanced over at the other three who looked a bit relieved it wasn't them being called, I felt a hand grab the back of my shirt and force me up the stairs.

"Jesus, you're slow" The man said pushing me out in front of him once I was inside of the 'kitchen'. "Did I really hit you that hard?" I was sure this was a rhetorical question so I kept quiet. The light caused me to wince as I was just getting use to the darkness in the basement, it had been hours since I have been up here and it felt like I was staring directly at the sun.

I was lead through the house by the man who kept up with his sarcastic remarks about how 'incoherent' I was after his hit. Though I suppose it must have been pretty hard seeing as I don't remember it. Finally we stopped outside of a door; the man knocked on it a couple of times before letting his arm fall once again to his side. I could hear footsteps coming to open the door, once it was open it showed him. The 'clown'. I wasn't sure what I should call him after all. I knew if I had called him Jack even in my mind it would slip out again, that was something I really didn't need at the moment.

The clown sent the man who brought me here a look for him to know to leave, now it was just me and him. Alone. He opened the door wider for me, hesitantly I walked in.

"Take a seat anywhere you'd like" he said from behind me, closing the door. It looked like a normal bedroom, though the unmade bed and clothes that were thrown around made my OCD go a bit crazy. I took a seat on the very edge of the bed, looking around for any sort of weapon, though I guess he was smart enough to hide them before I came in.

"I don't believe you told me your name?" He said in a questioning tone.

I gazed down at the floor but answered, "Sarah". He seemed to have gotten in a much calmer mood than he had been the last time I saw him, I wasn't sure whether it was my turn to ask him a question or to wait until he asks me another. I took my chances. I figured if I was going to die I should at least find out as much as I could about my current situation.

"Why am I here?" I asked him trying to make my voice sound less than demanding, not how that one guy had asked him before he, you know, got shot. My eyes left the floor and found his face that was still caked with face paint.

"I was a little rough with you before…I figured I should straighten things out between us." I wasn't sure whether he was serious or not. He didn't seem to be, he never seemed to be.

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice cracking this time knowing if anything bad was to happen it would be now. He glanced up at me, his cold lifeless eyes locked onto mine, they didn't look like Jack's.

"You, my dear, may call me, Joker." He said, letting slip another laugh before composing himself. He was clearly insane, this made me a bit more relieved at the fact if this was what people called 'crazy' then I, hopefully, wouldn't be considered in that category.

"Are you going to kill me?" I asked him picking at my fingernails out of habit. I use to do this during my therapy sessions; they even got to the point where calluses formed.

"Now why would I do that?" He asked me sitting in a chair across from me. "Hungry?" he asked changing the subject completely. I glanced over at the small table beside him, there laid a plate full of food, take out I presume. I could feel my stomach growl, but I ignored it and shook my head no. I had no idea what he put in that food, poison, some sort of drug inside that would knock me out cold. I couldn't trust him. He seemed to know this judging by the smirk he had on his face. "Don't trust me, hm? Smart; just watch" I watched as he picked up a single French fry, holding it up for me to examine it and shoved it into his mouth. "See?" He said just as he finished chewing it. "Now here." He pushed the table in front of me giving me a closer look at the food. I still couldn't eat it. Not while the others were down there without food. Granted it was only a few hours we had been here, but judging from how hungry I was already the others had to be the same. Then again I haven't eaten since yesterday. He seemed a little upset by the fact I still didn't take the offer, he slid the table away from me and pushed his chair nearer to me, the nearer he got the more I could smell the stench repelling from him. He simply stared at me, not saying a single word. The silence was killing me, what was worse is not once did he take his eyes off of me, im not even sure whether or not he blinked.

"Can I go?" I asked him, knowing how horribly risky this was. But I either wanted to get my death over with or get out of this room and away from him.

"You would rather spend time in a basement then talk to me?" He asked faking being hurt by my decision. To be honest, yes, yes I would. "Fine." Was all he said before he stood up from the chair and grabbed a hold of my arm, though this time it wasn't nearly as rough. He led me back into the kitchen where his 'henchmen' were casually playing what looked to be poker, not seeming fazed at all by any of us hostages trapped in the basement.

He lifted open the trap door and gave me a push as I made my way down the concrete stairs. I could see the faces of the others looking just as shocked as I felt by the fact I was still alive and breathing.

"What did you say your name was?" I heard a voice ask me, I turned my head to see him still standing there with the door still open.  
>"Sarah" I said in an unsure tone. He continued to stare at me, so I only assumed he wanted my last name as well. "Morrison" With that the door slammed shut, I could hear the locks being toyed with once again.<p>

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><p><strong>asfhgkf; Ok so one more update today after this...im only doing this because I have no idea when the next time I will be able to update will be. Like always let me know what you think! Thanks ~LG :)<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**Final update for a while...anyway like always ENJOY~ :)**

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><p>We had been down there for at least a day and a half, the only time that trap door opened was to drop a few bottles of water down. I still spent my time alone in the corner but occasionally talked with the others, usually to answer repeated questions of what had happened when he brought me up. They all seemed to know who he was, the Joker, but seeing as they are all from Gotham I suppose knowing him wasn't uncommon. I found myself wishing I had eaten that day, but I guess standing my ground did do me some good, I wondered whether or not if I acted differently if I would be alive. He seemed to have enjoyed the bit of fight I had in me when we had talked, not being afraid, even though I was desperately, to ask him questions. I guessed he hadn't been around people like me that often, even his 'henchmen' seemed more reluctant to talk to him than I was. .<p>

My stomach continuously grumbled at the lack of food filling it, I couldn't even imagine how Amy, the ten year old was doing. She was much smaller than us, so a few days lack of food affected her more than it did any of us.

I heard the familiar sound of the locks being clicked open and watched as the door swung open. You know when dogs here the sound of cars pulling into the driveway and the reaction they get when they realize their owner was home? That was sort of the same thing. It meant usually water or a chance to use the restroom; something we all needed.

"Everyone come up." The voice of one of the henchmen called to us. I was the first one up and began walking towards the light shining through, the others were close behind, though they seemed a bit dazed from the light just as I had been the first time I walked up here. "Follow me" He ordered once everyone was up and out of the basement. We walked through a familiar hallway, the one I was being led down when I was taken into the Jokers room, though we passed that. We were led to the room we first were in, the one where the first hostage was shot and killed, you could still see blood splattered on the wall behind the chairs. I sat down in the same chair I had before, everyone seemed to have gone in their same spots, sort of like a seating chart at school.

I watched as the two men went into the corners of the rooms guarding the two doors, I could clearly see the guns protruding out of the sides of their shirts, they seemed to be stuck only in the band of their pants. This was the time when the Joker made his entrance into the room, everyones heads turned towards the grounds hoping no to make any sort of eye contact with the crazed man, I followed this as well.

"How is everyone doing?" He asked sounding like a host at a dinner party. "Fine? Good." I watched his feet make their way back and forth, from me to Debra. "Now we are going to try to film this video again…hopefully no interruptions or distractions…" He trailed off, somehow, even though I hadn't been looking, I felt his eyes on me; burning into the back of my neck as I continuously looked towards the ground. He lifted my head up and I found myself staring into a camera lens.

"Hostage number one, tell them your name" He said keeping a firm hold on my chin making sure I didn't lower it at all.

"Sarah" I mumbled into the camera.

"Good" His hand left my face causing my head to fall back into its original place. He did this with every one of the others until finally turning the camera to himself.

"Now for every day that I don't get what I want" he paused and let the camera scan over us, this time I was looking up into it. "one of them will die." He told the camera, turning it back to himself. "Starting right now…im a man of my word." He said letting out a laugh before raising a gun up towards us. "But who will it be first?" he asked shoving the camera into one of the henchmen's hands and taking a place behind us. I felt the barrel of the gun press against the back of my head. "Eenie" he started moving it off of my neck to Leslies, "Meenie" then Amy, "Minie" finally to Debra, this time there was a loud BANG; a gunshot. "Moe" he said before walking back towards the front of the room, he grabbed the camera and shut it off.

My eyes wandered towards the body of Debra that was slumping forward in a hunched position. There was a gunshots straight through the back of her head, I felt myself becoming dizzier as I felt the hands of the henchman lifting me out off the chair. The sight of all of the blood was enough to cause me to pass out cold. ~

I woke up in a daze, my entire body was drenched in sweat, the clothes I had on for the past few days clung to my body. Being caught up in my attire I failed to realize I was in a bed, not in the basement. I recognized it as his room, the Jokers room, though there was no sight of him inside of it. I sat up feeling a horrible pounding headache come on; I glanced around the room and noticed a gun sitting atop of the table where he once had the food on. I, again, looked around the room, no one was around. I got up as quickly as possible and snatched the gun.

"Feeling better?" A voice asked, I spun around pointing the gun in the face of who I know now as the Joker. "Ah, you found a toy."

"Get out of the way" I ordered, though it didn't exactly come out as threatening as I would have liked it to be. "If you don't let us go…I'll shoot you!"

"What if I said I would let you go? Only you. Would you agree and leave the others behind?" He asked not seeming fazed at all by the gun pointing right towards his forehead, im sure this wasnt his first time. I pondered this for a moment; thinking of how I should answer it, was it a trick question? "Then again the choice of shooting me sounds fascinating." He said bringing be out of my deep thought. "How 'bout you shoot me, then you can go out and attempt to get through all of them." He said motioning his head towards the room outside of this one, the room filled with his henchmen. "Doesn't sound like such a great idea now does it?" I never once lowered the gun. "Feels good, doesn't it?" He asked me circling around me, I followed his every movement, making sure the gun was always pointed at his head. "So much power in one little object. I'll give you a choice; you shoot me and make your way into there," He paused and pointed towards the bathroom in his bedroom. "where there is an open window and find your way back home OR you stay here." This seemed like an obvious choice to me, there had to be some sort of catch. "You don't seem like the type who would want blood on their hands." He told me. "Both figuratively and…literally." He said laughing a bit, having me remember when I passed out from seeing all the blood when he had shot Debra. I kept the gun pointed at his head, but I knew he was right. I couldn't live with myself knowing I had taken someone's life, even if that someone had taken so many lives of others. I slowly lowered the gun having him grab it from my hands.

I watched as he continued to raise it up, pressing it against my forehead, his finger on the trigger, then he pulled it. I winced as I heard the click of the trigger being pulled, but I didn't hear a gunshot. It was empty. It had been empty the entire time and he knew it. He only wanted to see if I was willing to kill someone to save myself. I felt the tears well up in my eyes as he tossed the gun down onto the bed I was laying on only a few minutes ago, the thought of getting out of here seemed so close.

"How are you feeling?" His voice seemed much softer for some reason but it was just, if not more, dangerous. I didn't answer; I stood merely staring at the gun that I believed could be my one shot of leaving this hell hole. "Ignoring me now, are we?" he asked laughing a bit. "Take a seat, I'll be back in a few moments." He told me giving me an encouraging push towards the chair at the small table in the corner of the room. I did what I was told knowing he probably had a very loaded gun on him, if not a gun then some sort of other weapon.

I sat listening to the running water in the bathroom, wondering what he was doing for the moments I had been waiting. Finally I heard the bathroom door open back up, but I didn't turn around to face him. I watched as he made his way towards the other side of the table was and took a seat in the only chair left. When I did look up at him I had to force myself not to gasp, before me he sat, with none of the face paint, something I had a feeling very few people have seen.

"There's no reason to stare." He said simply with a smirk on his face. I felt myself blush a bit, though for a reason I wasn't sure of, however there was one thing I was sure of. I remembered the first time I looked into his eyes, his purely dead looking eyes, now when I looked at them, they felt familiar. They looked familiar. And I knew why.

"I've been doing some research on you" He told me. "You lived in Gotham until you were 18, until moving to Seattle working as a pathetic assistant at some company, you live alone, but the reason you came back was because of your mother…who is in the hospital." He told me seemingly pleased with the amount of information he had on me. "Correct?" I only nodded. "As a child you spent most of your days in therapy…from some tragic event that had happen to you" he paused though each word he said he made sound more and more dramatic. "Finally you were able to leave therapy when your nightmares left and you and your parents were getting along, which was clearly a lie you came up with." He said shrugging.

"Good work." I said in a much more arrogant tone than I was hoping. "My turn." I told him, his eyebrows rose. "You lived in Gotham until you were what, 12? You were taken away by police after brutally murdering your father, leaving your mother to be taken to a mental institution to deal with the backlash of what you had done." To be honest I was surprised by what I had said as well, I don't know what had come over me.

He stared blankly at me for a while, looking me dead in the eyes, I tried to keep my gaze along with him but failed after a few moments. I looked down at my hands that were folded neatly on the table, again beginning to pick at my finger nails.

"You don't know as much as you think you do." He told me coldly. I glanced up at him again, this time not certain about his mood; I could tell if he was extremely angry or extremely calm by all of this, this was what frightened me most.

"I know its you." I told him still wondering whether I would be able to look him directly in the eye as I said this.

"Me?" He asked acting as if he had no idea what I was talking about, his cartoon voice playing up more and more.

"Jack" I said aloud, this time I knew exactly what I was saying. He paused as if surprised by my sudden amount of courage in the situation.

"I haven't used that name in a long time." He said gritting his teeth. I sat back into my chair, I stared blankly at him, as he had done me several times before, did he just admit it was him? Or am I going crazy?

"So you admit it?" I asked him sitting forward towards the table again.

"Admit what?" He asked cocking his head to the side.

"That its you-that you're Jack."

"I don't believe I did, no." He told me shrugging.

"You're lying!" I said, my voice raising. "Just say it!"

"Say what?" he asked, his voice calm, he was getting to me, and he knew it. I looked away towards the door, the tears filling my eyes again.

"I want to go back." I said feeling my throat getting dry, this is what it usually did when I knew I was about to cry. At this point I wasn't sure why I was crying; maybe it was the fact that I was so confused by everything. I didn't know whether it was Jack or not, I mean for all I know he could only be messing with my mind, making me think that he is someone he is not. But those scars…the same ones Jack had.

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><p><strong>Thanks so much for reading! Hope you liked it~ LG :)<strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**Sooo here is chapter 11! Thanks to everyone who is reading, has reviewed and saved this story in their alerts or favorites! You're all awesome and I hope you like the rewrite more than the original! Thanks again~**_  
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><p><em>The final bell rang through the entire school, everyone stood up from their seats, blocking out the sound of their teachers giving them tips on their homework for the night. I slid my backpack on over my shoulder and began to make my way out of the classroom, several students pushed their way past me, I could hear conversations about upcoming birthday parties or trips up to the city, all things I was never invited to go to. Either way I never let it get to me; my mother was taking me out shopping after school for new clothes, some I could wear to holiday events like seeing my Grandparents. <em>

_I made my way out into the school yard and felt two rough figures shove their way by me, knocking my backpack off of my shoulder. Rolling my eyes, I picked it up off of the ground, those two boys were the same class I was, they were always goofing off or picking on people much smaller than they were. _

_I glanced up at the two who had someone new in their paths, it was another boy I had in my class, Jack. I watched wearily as they shoved him to the ground, one of the boys, Louis, I think his name was, got on top of Jack, pinning his arms to the ground. There was a crowd forming around all of this, everyone seemed to be egging on the two boys who were tormenting him. _

_Looking over my shoulder I could see my moms car pull in, coming to a stop in her usual spot where she waited for me. Again I looked back towards the scene, but too many kids were crowding around blocking my vision from everything that happened. _

_I took a step towards the parking lot, but stopped. I knew I couldn't leave with my mom knowing I could've had a chance to stop this. I sighed and turned back to the scene, walking through the other kids, getting elbowed in the ribs several times. I found myself standing in front of the three, Jack was still held down by Louis while the other boy continued to taunt him, without a second thought I let my backpack fall to the ground and used what little strength I had to shove the boy off of Jack._

"_What are you doing?!" The other boy asked as I pulled Jack up to his feet, I could see a small cut on his lip. _

"_She's just helping her boyfriend!" The other boy said, in a singsong voice. I could feel my face turn red but I continued to pull Jack out of the crowd, keeping my head straight forward. I could hear the kids joining in with the taunting but I tried to block them out. _

_Once we were far enough away I turned to Jack, but we weren't in the school yard anymore. We were inside of a house now, one that I recognized though it wasn't my own house. Jack was over in the corner with his back turned to me, I looked around trying to figure out how I knew this place._

"_Jack?" I asked, I walked a few steps toward him, my eyes scanned the room around me, we were inside of…a kitchen? Just then it hit me, we were inside of Jacks house. Inside the kitchen where I watched his dad attack him and his mom. "Jack?" I asked again, still not getting a response. Finally he turned to me, his head down. I was only a few steps away from him now, I was about to reach a hand up to lie on his shoulder until his head lifted up. I let out a gasp as I saw his scars, these were much different from what I remembered them as, they look as if the attack had just happened. Blood ran down from either side of his face, I could see the ridged tears in his skin at the edges of his mouth. I tried to back away from him but was stopped by a counter top that seemed to appear out of nowhere, I looked up from the counter to see not Jack, not the 12 year old I remember seeing growing up, but the Joker. He grabbed me by the back of my neck, making sure I wouldn't be able to get away, I watched as his other hand lifted up towards my face, with a knife firmly in his grasp. I could feel, even taste the metal of the knife in the corner of my mouth._

"_Why so serious?"_

I woke up to the sounds of my own screaming, something I hadn't done in several years. I pushed myself up off of the concrete floor, my throat was scratchy and dry from either the lack of water or the screaming…or perhaps both.

"Sarah, are you okay?" A voice small voice asked from across the basement, I could tell it was Amy, the girl who I guessed to be around ten.

"Yeah, im fine." I assured her, feeling more than embarrassed about what had happened. I can only imagine how bad it scared the two other girls left in here when I began screaming.

"Can I sit over by you?" She asked me.

"Yeah sure, actually I'll go over by you two…" I said, thinking that a different spot might do me some good.

"She's gone" She started. "Leslie…they took her upstairs." I could feel my heart drop, had this all happened while I was sleeping? It was only the two of us; Amy and me.

I stood up, with a hand on the wall I began walking slowly towards where I guessed Amy was sitting. My fingers slid across the cold, concrete wall until I felt something different underneath. Boards. They were covering something, but I didn't know what; what I did know was that I needed to know what was behind them. I began tugging on what little grip I could get on the boards, they wouldn't even budge. I needed something to help pull them out…like a crow bar. Well, at least in my mind that would work, having seen it so many times in movies, though how in gods name would I be able to get one of those?

"Sarah?" I heard Amys voice again, this brought me out of my train of thought.

"Im coming" I said realizing her voice was much closer than it had been before. My fingers ran over the boards for a while before returning to the concrete, I finally came to a stop when I heard her again, she was right beside me. I took a seat right beside her, it was silent between us for a while until she finally spoke.

"Do you think they'll kill both of us? "

"They're not going to kill you, Amy, I promise. I will get you out of here." I told her, I wasn't lying either, if either one of us could live it should be her.

"There is no way out of here." She said simply.

"I'll find one." I told her, again it was silent, I couldn't help but think of my nightmare. Everything that had happened…was real, well, real until I was inside of Jacks house. I remembered helping him from those kids at school, that was the first time it had happened. That was the first time I had ever actually spoke to him, after that we could be sort of considered friends. We were both sort of outsiders at school, though him more than anyone, I suppose you could say that's how we bonded.

I could hear footsteps from upstairs, until finally I heard them walk into the next room. I couldn't help, but wonder what they were doing up their.

"They didn't lock it." She said, obviously having been listening to the sounds as well. "After they took Leslie I didn't hear them lock the door. They must have forgotten."

"That's it…that's our way out." I told her getting up off of the floor; I began wandering out in the middle of the basement trying to find the stairs that led up to the trap door. After I came across them I could feel a hand grab a hold of my shirt sleeve.

"I don't think we should do this…" Amy said, I hadn't realized she had been following.

I said nothing back to her as I walked up the stairs, I sat on the final stair and slowly pushed up the trap door, she was right, it was unlocked. As I looked out I could see they legs of the table they had moved back over the door, I pushed it up a bit further to have my head fully out, the kitchen was empty. I could hear talking from the room next door and what sounded like a TV inside there as well. I closed the door again and turned to Amy, "Let's do it."

"What if they catch us?" She asked, I could tell she was nervous, I was too more than ever.

"Won't be any worse than what will happen if we wait." I said, knowing it was true. "Come on." I whispered lifting up the door, opening it enough to slide myself out and from underneath the table. I helped Amy and quietly shut the door behind us, I stood up fully now, as did Amy. I looked around the kitchen and found it covered with dirty plates and cups, you could see expired food left out as well, it was awful to look at, but even worse to have to smell. I looked around for a window or anything that we could climb out of but there wasn't anything, what I did see was something I knew could possibly come in handy. A gun. I grabbed it off of the counter, I looking down at Amy for the first time in the few days we had been stuck down there, her face was caked in dirt, but through that I could see deep circled under her eyes from the lack of sleep. I couldn't even imagine what I looked like after all this time, to be honest I didn't want to.

"This way" I said in almost an inaudible whisper, she nodded having somehow heard me, and we made our way into the hallway. There were doors on either side of the hallway as we made our way down, one of them I knew to be…his. We tiptoed down the hall, we passed the room the video was taken in, the one where both Debra and that guy were killed, and I wondered whether or not Leslie was killed as well in that room.

I could hear talking from behind us; from inside the kitchen, they were coming this way. I opened the first door I could and pulled Amy inside with me. Just as I closed the door I could hear them walk past, they were discussing who I guessed to be Leslie, I could feel myself tense up, they seemed to have done more to her than just kill her. I turned away from the door and saw the room we were in, his room. Amy had wandered deeper into the room, causing my heart to race at the thought of him jumping out at any second and grabbing her.

"Its empty" She said, looking around the corner, into the bathroom.

"The bathroom, the window" I said mostly to myself, walking past her into the bathroom, the very one I remembered him having washed off all of his makeup in. He had told me about the window, how it could be my only chance for freedom if I had shot and killed him. Though the thought of him lying about it was something I thought of too, but if there was even a chance of getting out of here I had to take it. Amy followed me into the bathroom closing and locking the door behind her, the lock made me feel a little safer but not much. He could very easily shoot through the door if he wanted to, but I had to remember that he wasn't even here, he didn't know we were missing. I wondered how long it would be until he did realize it though.

I looked frantically around the bathroom and spotted the window beside the shower.

"Come on" I said, getting a burst of excitement knowing this could be it. This could be the thing to get us out of here. I opened up the window and pushed the screen out, there wasn't much of a distance between the ground outside from here so I knew we were fine to just jump right out. "You go first, okay?" I said knowing I could ease her down to the ground, instead of her just jumping, I didn't want to take any chances of her hurting herself. As I helped her up onto the window seal I could hear the slam of the bedroom door, he was here.

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><p><strong>Reviews usually do have me update more though im not going to be one of those people who says they wont write if there arent a certain amount of reviews. If I dont get any I will still update, though it may be longer than usual. Anyway thanks for reading, let me know what you think!~ LG<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**Here is chapter 12! Enjoy~**

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><p>Amy threw her first leg over the windowsill, followed immediately by the other, it wasn't until I heard the sounds of the door handle trying to be opened did I really begin to panic.<p>

"When you hit the ground, don't wait for me. Just run." I told her, her hands clenched onto the sides of the window. "Ready?"

She only nodded; I really hoped she wouldn't panic, like I was in this situation, though I knew it was a lot to count on a ten year old for. Finally I wrapped my arms underneath hers and began to ease her down towards the ground, the sound of someone throwing themselves against the door was enough to cause me to lose my grip on Amy. Fortunately she was near enough to the ground where she was able to land on her feet; she glanced back up at me.

"Go" I mouthed to her, as I myself began to climb out of the window. I watched as she took off into a sprint towards the gravel road, I prayed no one would see her. The thuds on the other side of the door grew louder and louder and I tried to squeeze myself out of this window. The gun in my hands was begin to slip due to the sweat I had covering them, I could hear numerous voices outside the door, none of them were the Jokers.

The next hit to the door left a crack in it, it was about to break any moment, I had to move fast. I began trying to force my legs through the window, though it wasn't wide enough for me to go this way; no matter how many meals I skipped I wouldn't be the same size as Amy.

Another hit to the door caused an even bigger break, I knew I had to come up with a different plan. I pulled my leg out and held the gun up towards the door, I prayed that this time it wouldn't end up being empty. My hands were shaking as I watched the crack in the door grow larger and larger, but eventually the pounding against it ended. Whoever was trying to break open the bathroom door stopped; why, it ended I wasn't sure, but there was a good chance I was going to find out soon.

The silence was much worse than I anticipated. As I stood, gun in hand, I could feel myself becoming impatient. If something was to happen I wanted it to happen now.

I really should remember that whole 'be careful what you wish for' saying, a few moments later several bullets came flying threw the door. I dropped to the ground, my hands over my head; my eyes were shut tight waiting for one of the bullets to penetrate my part of my body. When the bullets stopped I still kept still on the floor, I looked up to see the door had several holes, a hand pushed through the barely standing door unlocking it. I pushed myself up off the ground and grabbed the gun, getting back into my former position. Right as the door swung open, I didn't stop to think who it was, it could've been the Joker or even a police officer, whoever it was it couldn't keep me from pulling the trigger.

A shot rang out; the gun jerked back almost hitting me in the face, immediately after, I dropped it. I didn't bother look again to see who it was, lying on the ground. Seeing the outline of a body was enough. Without a second thought I went head first out the window, I could feel my sides scrap against the window. I landed on my shoulder, doing somewhat of a somersault and ended up on my back. I laid there for a few moments before a bullet bury itself into the ground right near my head. I scrambled to my feet and took off into a run, not looking back. I made sure to run in a different direction than Amy, I ran further into the woods while I knew she was still on the road. I knew someone was continuously shooting from inside of the bathroom, the sound of shots still surrounded me, it wasn't until I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my side did I stop running.

I fell to the ground, though it wasn't from pain, it was more of the shock of knowing one of the bullets was embedded into my side. Truth is I hadn't felt any pain, not in my side or in my shoulder, pain which I knew I would have sometime later. The sounds of yelling could be heard a little ways away, footsteps of more than one person were drawing nearer to me. I ran a hand over my side that had a numbing feeling to it, my shirt was soaked in was I knew was blooding trickling out.

Finally someone came into view, it wasn't the Joker, it was one of his goons. Actually it was three of them, at least that's what I guessed, my vision seemed to have doubled everything from my dizziness that was slowly taking over.

I felt a hand grab onto my arm and yank me upwards, though this didn't do much, I only fell back onto the ground after they let go. They were talking around me but I couldn't make any of it out, the pounding headache managed to block it out.

"When does the boss get back?" One of them asked, my hearing coming back to me, this time I felt myself fully being picked up off the ground, though it wasn't in a gentle manner, not that I expected gentle of any sort. I was thrown over one of the mens shoulders as the brought me back to the house.

"Not for a while." One of them answered. "How 'bout a little fun?"

We were back inside the house now, I heard the door slam shut behind us, I prayed to be thrown back into the basement, hoping I wouldn't be apart of any of this 'fun' they were talking about. Unfortunately, like many of my prayers before, it didn't happen. I was thrown off of the mans shoulder and onto a couch, which was a slight relief at first, the feeling of my hands being pinned down took this away however. I used what little leg strength I had and tried to kick the other two men away, of course this planned failed as they managed to pin my legs down as well.

"Hold still and this will go much faster" One of them laughed. I felt a hand grab hold of the waist band on my jeans, my body instinctively began to twist and turn as much as I could trying to get him off of me. The hands holding down both my arms and legs tightened, the hand left and began traveling up my shirt.

"GET OFF OF ME!" I finally screamed, somehow getting a jolt of energy, still squirming under the hands of the men. The pain in both my shoulder and side began to come through, this ceased the fight I had in me. A little light of hope shown through this as I was able to get one leg loose, I kneed the man on top of me as hard as I could.

"Keep her still!" The man holding my arms grumbled.

"Im trying! She's a feisty one" The other man laughed, looking down at the man still kneeling beside the couch in pain. "Now I know why the boss wanted to keep her around."

"Let me do this." The man holding my arms let go, moving to my side, before I could sit up and attempt to get away a hand grabbed onto my throat. "You're going to listen carefully;" He started, a gun rose up, he pressed the cold metal hard against my cheek. "You do what I say… and you will live. Don't make this harder on your-" He paused mid sentence and looked up.

"He's back!" One of them said apparently hearing the sound of cars pulling up to the house, I felt my feet be freed, though I didn't move due to the gun still forced against my face. "Get her back in the basement!"

He threw the gun across the room and tried to force me to my feet, but I stayed where I was. I spent this whole hour trying to get away from the Joker, now I was doing everything I could to get to him. I knew if I was found outside of the basement the Joker would be upset, at least this was what I hoped for. I ignored the searing pain coming from my side and fought the three men, who were easily double my size, away. One of them grabbed me around my waist, pinning my arms to my side, I began to scream at the top of my lungs but a hand wrapped around my mouth. I was pulled into the kitchen, I could see the table the trap door was under, this caused me to flail more, but the sound of the door open up gave me more than enough energy. I brought one of my legs up and swung it down into the knee cap of the man who was dragging me into the kitchen. I felt his legs buckle and he dropped down to the floor, letting go of me in the process. The hand around my face left and I began to crawl towards the doorway, I felt a hand grab onto my leg and pulled me back towards the table. I let out another scream before I felt a fist come down across the side of my face. ~

I woke feeling much dizzier than I had been, I bought my hand up to the side of my face where I had been hit and could feel it beginning to swell.

I glanced around the room I was in, the lights were off but I could still see, I wasn't in the basement. I was inside of a bedroom, I had a feeling I knew _whose_ I was in. As I sat up, propping myself onto my elbows, I could get a better view of the room, it was in fact his room, the Jokers. I glanced over at the bathroom, the bathroom door was barely standing, it was wide open but no body was inside. There was a red trail leading out of the room however, meaning someone dragged it out, the window seemed to be closed, though there wasn't any boards covering it.

I heard the door open and I let myself fall back into the bed, closing my eyes as if I hadn't woken up yet. I could hear footsteps walking around the bed, I felt a hand grab my jaw, though it wasn't rough it still made me wince a little, and pulled me to face what im sure was him.

Finally I opened my eyes and could see it was him, though even in the dark room I could see he didn't have his 'makeup' on any longer. His hand left my face, but he didn't say anything, I wondered whether he saw my eyes open or not.

"Get up" he said, leading my wondering to its answer. Without a second thought I did what I was told to, I pushed myself completely up, then swung my legs to the side of the bed. I paused as I felt something around my waist, looking down I could see that I only had on my bra, the rest of my upper body was either bare or covered with some type of cloth. I glanced down at my the side that had gotten shot, you could see a red stain coming through from where my blood soaked into the cloth, had he put this on me? I looked up blankly at him though his back was turned to me. I stood up from the bed, my arms wrapped around myself, I only took a few steps before coming to a stop; I had no idea where I was suppose to go too.

"What's going on?" I asked him, finally he turned to me.

"How 'bout a little visit to the Gotham General hospital?" I swear my heart stopped beating for a few seconds. We were going to the hospital my mother was staying in.

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><p><strong>This story is way more intense than my last one..I mean seriously. Haha anyway let me know what you think, what do you think will happen when they do go to the hospital? Let me know in a review or PM! Thanks again for reading~LG<strong>


	13. Chapter 13

**Here is the next chapter-Enjoy~ :)**

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><p>Who was I? As I stared into the mirror before me I couldn't figure out exactly who that person was looking back at me. Her brown hair was matted in the back and was entirely greasy, from the lack of showering and the fact a hand was run through it every couple of minutes or so from anxiety, the brown eyes that I stared into were dull; no light in them whatsoever. Most of the skin that could be seen through the wrappings around their waist was grimy and discolored from both dirt and again, lack of bathing.<p>

It wasn't the swelling in my jaw, from the punch I had received from one of the goons earlier, or the black eye, or even the several bruises around my body that was what made me not recognize myself in this mirror. It was that somehow, in this week or so I had been kept locked in that damned basement, I seemed to have changed. Maybe it was the fact that I might be witness of my own mother's death today. Or perhaps it was the realization that I was reunited with a friend who I watched be tortured by his father, the one who lead me to my many years of therapy and nightmare filled nights. This of course was what I had in my mind of who he was, the only person I wanted him to be. The fact I had even associated him with being a friend of mine was slightly insane, wasnt it? Whatever it was that made me lose whatever remembrance I had of myself and replace it with someone new. Whether I liked this new being or not was still unknown.

I turned my attention away from the mirror and walked over to the shower, twisting the knobs that turned the water inside on; I let my hand slide into the middle of the water streaming down from the shower head. I could see even just from one hand, the amount of dirt and dried blood that ran down the tips of my fingers and into the tub below.

I let out a sigh of relief as I felt the water turn from cold to hot. I was thankful at the chance to finally take a shower after those several days of sleeping in my sweat and blood stained clothes.

I slid off what little clothes I had on, and unraveled the blood soaked cloth the Joker had put on me, something I still didn't want to think about. The fact he had removed my clothes to do this 'nice' task made me wince. Where the bullet inserted itself was still tender, it was slightly discolored around the area but other than that it actually looked really good. At least as good as a bullet wound could look.

I stepped into the shower and felt the burning hot water wash over me, I didn't even bother to change it due to the fact I wasn't sure how long this bliss would last for. I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to untangle the many knots I had building up in the back. I glanced down at the water underneath me, it was still a dark brown color, though I could see it getting lighter.

After several minutes of attempting to get the knots out of my hair, I just stood underneath the almost cold water, as the hot had run out.

Showers always seemed like the perfect place to think, something I didn't want to do at the moment, but at this time I couldn't help myself. The Joker hadn't told me anything about why we were going to the hospital; then again I suppose I didn't ask. That was mostly for me, I thought that whatever he had planned should merely remain a mystery to me, I didn't want anything to do with this.

Finally I shut the water off, but I didn't get out of the shower just yet. If I could I would have stayed in there forever, but I knew that wasn't a realistic plan. I pushed aside the shower door and stepped out onto the cold floor, I grabbed the towel he had given to me, whether it was clean or not wasn't something I even wanted to ask.

I towel dried off and was about to reach for the clothes I had thrown onto the bathroom floor, when I noticed they were gone. Had…had he taken my clothes? Had he been in here while I was in the shower?

Atop of the counter top was a set of new clothes, most seemed to be for men though the underwear was clearly for women, again I could feel my nose scrunch up out of disgust knowing he had been touching these. Though the idea of him somehow managing to get a hold of these was somewhat laughable.

Quickly I changed into the jeans and an oversized button up shirt, I began combing my hair with my fingers, feeling pleased with the amount of knots I had gotten out. The swollen jaw seemed to have gone down a bit, but the black eye was still very clear even in the fogged mirror.

I let out a sigh and faced the door, turning the handle; I walked into the empty room, the room that hadn't been occupied by anyone. It was on the second floor of the house, somewhere I hadn't been during any of my time inside of here.

"Put this on" The voice came from behind me, I jumped a little not realizing someone was inside with me. I turned to see him, just in time to have yet another item of clothing thrown at me. He walked from beside the bathroom door towards the hallway outside the room, "and follow me."

I quickly slid on what I found out to be a sweatshirt, and followed him, like he asked. Or, well, ordered. I jogged down the stairs and through the front door that was now wide open; I could see the goons throwing bags into the vans circling the house. Some of them glanced up at me only to immediately turn their attention back to whatever they were doing. I looked at every one of them, but none of them were the ones from earlier. Whatever happened to them I was pleased with it, as long as I didn't have to see them again.

The Joker entered the front seat of one of the vans, without a second thought I got into the passenger seat, I really hoped that the back wasn't an option for me. There weren't any henchmen in the back, not like I had expected, there was several bags stashed behind out seats, what was inside of them was anyone's guess. ~

We drove in silence; the weird thing was…it was almost calming. Knowing that for the time being I was in a good place, at least felt that way, I stared out the window, much like I had on the car ride to the hospital with my dad. The scary part was I felt more comfortable with the Joker than I was with my dad. We passed several cars; I glanced at each one of the people inside the cars we drove by, wondering if they looked back if they would even do anything about it, seeing me in this car with a madman. If anyone knew I was gone, if my dad had put out any sort of missing person case, like im sure the others had done for them.

"You were smart for escaping when you did…trying to save your _friend_." He said, breaking the silence, I took my eyes off of the outside world, looking over at him now. "Its too bad she wasn't smart enough to stay off of the road."

"You didn't-…she's okay" I said, mostly for own benefit, I had to keep myself positive. My eyes were slowly filling with tears, blurring my vision of him slightly.

"Do you really think I would let someone escape that easily? That I would be able to trust my goons with a job like this?" he asked, shaking his head. "But you should feel good about this. I mean she did die feeling free, didn't she? She didn't even see the bullet coming-" I jumped from my seat, pushing the steering wheel off of the road, causing several cars to swerve and honk at us. The plan didn't go as smoothly as I hoped for, a gun made its way to the side of my face; I made my way back into my seat, keeping my eyes on the gun. "Honestly I thought it was smart what _you_ did. Sending bait out first, so you could sneak out a different way. I gave you too much credit before I realized you were actually trying to save someone, who, if they had the chance would kill you if it meant them being saved." He said, finally moving the gun away from me.

"How did you know?" I asked him, knowing unfortunately that…he was right. How would I know whether I could actually trust any of those people before me? "That we were escaping I mean" He said nothing, he only pointed to the glove compartment. I popped it open and found a small screen inside, about the size of one of those touch screen phones. I pulled it out and found an empty, green light room. It showed only a few empty bottles of water lying around and what looked to be a boarded up window; it wasn't until I saw the window did I really hit me what this was that I was looking at. For the first time I was able to see the basement I had spent several days living in, in full view, in night vision. I hadn't even thought about the fact he could have stuck cameras in there; that he could have been watching us at every single moment that we were all inside.

"If it wasn't for your screaming I probably wouldn't have noticed." He started. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly had you been _dreaming_ about?"

I could feel my face go bright red as his laughter filled my ears; I again began staring out the window, waiting for the hospital to come into sight. Just so I could get whatever we were doing over with. We took a sharp left and just then I could see the entrance of Gotham General just at the end of the street, this was the same way my father had driven down.

The parking lot was packed as usual, he parked in the parking lot that was underneath the hospital and finally the car was turned off.

"Out" he said, as he moved into the back of the van from the front seat. I got out, looking around at the empty parking lot, almost waiting for someone to show up, any one that I could get help from. The back doors to the van were pushed open and I waited for whatever he wanted me to do next. He shoved two of the bags at me, before throwing the other four out onto the ground below. "I want you to go inside and ask the nice lady at the desk if you can see Lawrence Garret in room 218, ok?" He told me, sounding as if he was talking to a child. And much like a childlike response, I only nodded. "Good, put your hood up."

"Why?" I asked him, pulling my still damp hair over my shoulder.

"Just do it" He ordered throwing yet another bag at me, causing me to stumble back a bit.

"Wont this seem a little suspicious? Me walking around with three duffel bags?" I asked him.

"That's why you are going to leave two of them outside the hospital." He told me, sounding as if I should have already known this. Did he not realize he hadn't otld me this information?

"What about the other one?" I asked him.

"Leave it outside of 218." I nodded, and tried to force the third bag over my shoulder, my balance was very much off after that. I began to waddle out of the parking garage, wondering whether he thought about me just taking off. I mean I could very well drop the bags and just begin running to the police station I knew was only a few blocks down. Then I thought of what would happen if he caught me doing it…I mean if he could kill five people for no clear reason, just think about what he would do to someone he had a reason to kill.

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><p><strong>What did you think? Thanks for reading, hope you'll continue~LG<strong>


	14. Chapter 14

**Enjoy~ :)**

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><p>I placed the first two bags outside of the front entrance of the hospital before turning back to the entrance, as I walked in I threw my hood up over my head, with the bag still over my shoulder, and wearily I approached the front desk feeling as if at any moment I could pass out from all the anxiety this was causing. The lady at the front desk was different from the one I had met when I came here with my father, this was something that made me a little calmed about the situation of 'not wanting to be caught'.<p>

"Can I help you?"

_Funny you ask…yes you can. I have been kidnapped and tortured by a crazed clown, who, at this moment, is planning for something terrible to happen to this very hospital. Could you help me with that?_

"Oh-erm, I would like to see Lawrence Garrett…room 215" I told her just as I rehearsed several times in my head before coming in here; I could feel my throat closing up a bit as I spoke. This could have been the moment when I could have saved not only myself, but hundreds of people and I choked. Tears began building up in my eyes but I kept my head down, I could hear her typing, probably looking for this Lawrence Garrett.

"And are you family? A friend?" She asked, the typing stopped.

"Family. Im…im a family member of his." I told her, adjusting the strap on my shoulder that was digging into my skin, due to the heaviness of the bag.

"Alright, through those doors." She told me, I glanced up at her; she had looked as if she was attempting to get me to look at her the entire time. "Are you ok, dear?"

"Fine" I muttered immediately after, I lowered my head again and began walking towards the doors. Just as I pushed my way through out of the corner of my eye I could see a picture. I took a step back and on the bulletin board on the wall inside of the waiting room was a missing person sign. Actually there were a few of them. But the one that caught my eye was my own; it had a picture of me from high school, probably the most recent one they could find of me I suppose, underneath gave a very small yet informative description of me. Beside my own missing person sign was one for a couple of the others that were missing. Including Amy.

The fact that her family was still hoping to find her alive and safe made me sick, sick that I knew that it would never happen. That they would never see her again. Because of him. And yet here I am. Still in the palm of his hand, not doing anything about it either.

The doors opened beside me and a man walked out, I glanced up at him catching his eye for a few seconds before I slid past him into the actual Hospital section of the building.

"Have a great day, Commissioner Gordon." I heard the woman at the desk say just as I passed the man. My pace quickened hoping he hadn't at all recognized me from pictures im sure he has seen numerous times, not to mention the videos he has gotten from the Joker. This was the reason he wanted me to wear the hood, so no one would see my face completely.

I found the elevator, unlike the last time, it was empty. I pressed the three to take me to the third floor, the same floor I knew my mother was on; I wondered whether or not I would have time to see her. I pushed those thoughts out of my mind, knowing there was a greater chance that that wouldn't be able to happen, but what replaced those were the thought of what I was even waiting for after that. After I set the bags outside of room 218, would he come and find me? How would he even get into the hospital without someone catching him?

I found the room that I was supposedly visiting someone in, but I couldn't help but notice just down the hallway two police officers were standing outside of the doorway, guarding one of the rooms. One of them looked up at me, but I quickly turned away, though I did push my hood off not wanting to attract too much attention to myself. I dropped the bag and wandered into room 218, inside was an elderly man who was sleeping, though the TV was still on.

Just as I was about to take a seat I heard a voice on the TV, his voice. I looked up to see some a GCN news report; I heard a grunt from the man lying in the hospital bed beside me but I faded him out to listen in, "-The mob ground out their little profit, and the police tried to shut them down one block at a time. And it was so…boring. I've had a change of heart. I don't want Mr. Reese spoiling everything, but why should I have all the fun? Lets give someone else a chance. If Coleman Reese isn't dead in sixty minutes, then I blow up a hospital."

In the bags…were explosives. Im helping him blow up the hospital; im helping him blow up Gotham General. I could hear static-y sounding noises from down the hallway, I knew it was the police officers radios that were doing this, probably about the threats the Joker had made. I could hear footsteps coming down the hallway, a few moments later one of the officer's heads poked in through the doorway.

"We need everyone out, they're evacuating the hospitals, and don't worry he will get out just fine." The officer told me hinting to the man lying unconscious on the bed. I looked over at him and nodded before exiting the room with the officer. "Ma'am aren't you going to get your bag?"

"My-"Pausing, I turned to the officer who was still standing besides the doorway, besides 'my' bag. "That's not- I didn't bring that, it's not mine" I managed to choke out, receiving a very odd look from the officer.

"But I saw you-"He stopped mid sentence, probably realizing arguing with someone at this time while a bomb threat was being issued around Gotham was ignorant. I turned away from the officer, wondering whether or not he was to look inside the bag, several people were walking out of rooms, from having been warned by the other officer. I made sure to blend in with the crowd, throwing my hood up over my head once more.

As I walked with everyone who was now being escorted down the stairwell, I couldn't help but overhear question surrounding Harvey Dent, the DA. I had a good feeling that bomb I set up there, the one just down the hall from those two police officers, the one that could very well have been already taken out of the building, was just outside of Dents door. The Joker was targeting him.

Just as we reached the bottom of the stairs I was yanked out of the crowd of people and pulled I a different direction. I knew it; the cops got the bag, they saw me set it there, no matter what pathetic lie I tried to tell. They think im helping bomb the hospital. Well, I guess technically I was…but in my defense I had no idea what was in the bags, nor was it my idea to even come here in the first place.

"Tell the boss I got her" I heard the voice say, as I was lead through an empty hallway inside of the hospital. Just then I realized the man who actually got a hold of me, was no cop, he was actually one of the Jokers goons. And just then…I was relieved? That's what I felt, the weight I had felt on my shoulders left, but the feeling of wondering why entered my mind. I was happy I was found by them? And not the cops? Being caught by the police at least I could tell them everything that had happened, having them most likely understand why I had to do it, without getting in any real trouble, but I was happy being stuck in this situation. Could I even call it a situation anymore if I made my peace with being in it? Even then could I even say 'made my peace' when I in all honesty _chose_ to stay instead of fleeing, rather then forcing myself to get use to everything? This was all too confusing, and the thing is im the one that's making things so confusing!

We exited the hospital to find several buses stationed outside, surrounding us were people walking or being wheeled out by either a wheel chair or hospital beds and being loaded onto the buses.

"Come on" The man grumbled to me, letting go of my arm, not wanting to bring any attention to us. I kept my hood up and my head was lowered, I only stared at the ground not wanting to make anymore eye contact with anyone, I feel as if I got too lucky those other times, especially with the Commissioner.

As we approached one of the buses the man turned to me, "Stay in here, we'll be leaving in a few minutes" I nodded to him and got onto the bus. I stared out the window, watching people being helped onto the bus. Each person I carefully looked at. Seeing if any of those faces were my mothers. I couldn't help but feel myself grow more concerned the longer I didn't see her; I suppose she could have been one of the first people to be loaded and I missed her…or maybe he is making sure she stays inside the hospital. Making sure she stays when the hospital collapses.

I watched as the amount of people lessened as the minutes went on, it was amazing really how quickly these police officers work, I mean that threat was made not twenty minutes ago and the had already been here within twenty minutes and began getting everyone evacuated out of the hospital along with what im sure are several other hospitals around the city.

I wondered about this 'Coleman Reese' whether he was still living or not. I mean I cant imagine how many people were after him after than very public death warrant made by the Joker, who threatened the lives of hundreds of people. There was a news team outside the bus, apparently getting a live shot of the chaos the Joker was causing.~

My eyes were growing heavy, the lack of sleep was finally hitting me now, but I knew I had to stay awake. There were fewer and fewer people being led out of the hospital now, which meant that almost everyone was out, this made me feel a bit better knowing that there wouldn't be nearly as many people injured as I first thought. It was almost time now. The news team was still out there, letting the rest of the city know what was going on. I wondered whether or not they were doing this at every other hospital in Gotham; I mean he didn't specify which hospital it was.

I looked around at the people who were inside, most seemed to be very seldom sick or injured; as they seemed to be sitting up and communicating well with one another. Not like the man I was in the hospital room with.

My attention with the patients was quickly broken as a loud explosion filled my ears from the beside me. Screams could be heard from every direction; the news team scrambled to get into the bus as the hospital was slowly imploding on itself. Through all this I couldnt help but wonder whether or not he was inside or not. Whether he was...okay.

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><p><strong>Let me know what you think! Thank you all so much for reviews and alerts! Hope you will keep reading~ LG<strong>


	15. Chapter 15

**Here's the next chapter; enjoy! :D I know its a little short...but the next will be much longer I promise. :) Also I have a plan for the final chapter and I need some help on whether or not this idea should be included. If any of you are willing to read my idea and give me feedback on whether or not its good that would be incredible! Leave me a review if you want to or even just send me a PM! Thanks! **

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><p>I watched as the back part of the Hospital began to collapse onto itself, not as much as I thought it would have, but in the midst of the explosion I could see a figure walking out. You see, I would have definitely pegged it as him, but the whole…well, nurse costume he had on sort of threw me for a loop. But once the figure got closer I could see that, indeed, it was him; face paint and all.<p>

He paused in his way towards the bus, staring down at what im sure was the tool to activate these explosions. Finally, another explosion went off, this time the kind of explosion that made the bus lurch to the side violently, causing some of the people inside to fall. My heart was racing as I began to raise my head; the bus was leaving. The looks on peoples faces was a relieved one, I knew that look would be short lived however once we stopped at a destination that wasnt a substitute hospital.

A sharp pain came from my side, my upper body instinctively bent over, trying to relieve some of the pain that came so suddenly.

"I was beginning to wonder when those drugs would wear off" I felt someone sit beside me, but I didnt bother to look up to see who; I recognized the voice. I forced myself up, pushing my back into the hard padded seats.

"You drugged me?" I asked him, I hadn't thought that the pain from the gunshot wound would be as easy as it was to deal with as it was, but I definitely didnt think about him giving me something to relieve the pain. "What did you give me?"

"Little of this...little of that..." He said with a small chuckle.

I was about to say something, but quickly stopped myself: what was I going to say? 'You could have killed me'? As if that would be something he would be against...you know, _killing someone. _

A small grin crept onto my face, though I forced it away as quickly as it came; the fact I had grown to become amused by such a dark sense of humor was scary. The idea that I could even be becoming a little, tiny bit like him was enough to bring a nauseous feeling to my stomach.

"Oh my god" A mans voice said from somewhere aboard the bus. Everyone else seemed to have heard it as everyones direction turned to the man, then went in the horrified direction his eyes were staring towards. "Its him"

There were gasps as they realized that this bus trip wasnt controlled by the Gotham police, but by the Joker. What was worse is that they stared at me as if I was one of his 'goons'. I suppose they have every right to make that assumption as I was sitting beside him as calm as ever; and I guess I didnt exactly argue with him when he asked me to help plant bombs inside of the hospital.

The Joker didnt seemed fazed at all by this, if anything he seemed to be basking in the attention they were giving him. The goons on the other hand were now all standing up, guns in hand, as if daring someone to try and fight them off. Everyone quickly went back into their original positions, though most were rigid and nervous now.

It was quiet; no one said a word as the bus continued to drive to its destination. The pain in my side was on and off, though my body was beginning to get used to it. It was strange knowing the kind of pain I could have and still managed to keep myself calm; back at home I would stub my toe on the end of the bed or cut my finger when chopping some vegetables and I would dwell on it for practically an entire day.

My head was leaning up against the window, watching as we were pulling up behind a building. The goons stood up again, guns in hand, "EVERYONE UP!"

I stood up along with everyone else, though the Joker pulled me out from behind the seat, leading me out of the bus. The building looked like it was still under construction, the yellow tape that was lying on the ground in front of the entrance, a sign that meant they were already here, sort of gave it away.

Inside the large, empty first floor was a single desk with a familiar camera set up in the front of it; the same one he had used to make the hostage video. He let go of my arm once we were inside of the elevator, I watched as his thumb pressed the second to top floor.

"What are you planning to do with them?" I asked him in a low voice.

"And why would I tell you?" He asked me in a singsong voice.

"You owe it to me to tell-"

"I dont owe you _anything_." He hissed right into my ear. "If anything you owe _me."_

"What?" I turned to him, feeling my face go red with anger. "You kidnapped me, locked me in a basement for days without food and water, you killed several innocent people, and forced me into setting bombs inside of a hospital!"

"As I recall it you denied the food and water I offered you; sure, I _kill_ people, but again remember...you are still alive and breathing. If you wanted to, and I know you thought about it, you could have ran away during that time you were alone just before you went into the hospital. No one forced you into it." He paused for a second letting what he said sink in. "And I kidnapped you...from what? Your _father_? The one person you still manage to despise more than me? The one who you begged to listen to, but just ignored you, no matter what it was about? Whether it was about the test you might have failed during school or the next door neighbors who were more than a little unusual..."

The elevator door opened just at that moment; he roughly pushed me out of the elevator, I spun around just in time to see the doors close behind me. I was alone now.

* * *

><p><strong>Let me know what you think! Thanks so much for reading! And like I said before let me know if you're willing to hear my idea for the story! ~LG :)<strong>


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